Small things please small minds

Let me say this again. You are no longer the opposition, so please stop thinking and acting like an opposition. You are now the government, so please get down to acting like a government. The voters put you in office to run the state so can we please see you running the state.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

One of the Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) leaders -- I won't mention his name though -- said something very funny about ten years ago. “PRM has never won any election so we always prepare ourselves for defeat. God help us if we even win the elections. We will not know how to manage victory. But we have a lot of experience managing defeat. So we are very happy to be given the 'danger's seats in the 1999 general elections. If we are given 'safe' seats and we actually win we might panic because we will not know what to do if we win.”

Actually, as funny as this may have sounded ten years ago, today, this is no longer funny. In the recent general election, the opposition did prepare itself for defeat but the opposite to that happened. And now they don't know what to do. To be fair to PAS, though, they did prepare for victory. They prepared themselves for taking over Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis. They did not, however, prepare themselves for Penang, Perak and Selangor. They thought, at best, they will only be able to deny Barisan Nasional its two-thirds majority in these three states.

DAP and PKR, on the other hand, never thought that the three 'mixed' states could ever fall to the opposition. Maybe the four 'Malay heartland' states face better prospects of falling but this would merely see PAS emerge as the Taiko of these states which will not involve DAP and PKR too much other than a 'token' representation in the state governments.

But the unexpected happened. And this is because the opposition did not listen to us, the rakyat. You can't say we did not tell them often enough. Even in my ceramahs all over the country I openly declared that Barisan Nasional will lose its two-thirds majority in Parliament, five states will fall to the opposition, and two states will see Barisan Nasional lose it two-thirds majority in the State Assemblies. Then I named the five states that will fall -- Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Perlis and Penang -- and the two states that will see Barisan Nasional lose its two-thirds majority in the State Assembly -- Perak and Selangor.

The opposition leaders just laughed and asked me, “Betul ke Petra? You ni tipu pengundi.”

This pissed me off and in my ceramah at Kampong Raja Uda in Port Kelang I told the voters, “Kampong Raja Uda has never fallen to the opposition since Merdeka. This time around I want you to give this kampong that carries my grandfather's name to the opposition. If you don't then I will never step foot in this place again. And if you give Kampong Raja Uda to Barisan Nasional you will be mencemar (defiling) my grandfather's name and I want you to remove my grandfather's name and change the name of this kampong to something else.”

“Aiyah, why do you say something like that?” Ronnie Liu asked me.

“Why, what's wrong with saying something like that?”

“If we don't win then you can never come back here again.”

“If we don't win then I won't want to come back here anyway. So what's the difference? But we will win. That is why I dare make that declaration.”

“Aiyoh, you are so confident lah. I am not so sure.”

That's right, the calun himself went cold when I made that open declaration because he himself was not too sure whether we had any chance of winning a seat that has always been a ruling party stronghold since 50 years of Merdeka. And we not only won Port Kelang but we won the whole state as well.

Okay, so I was slightly off in my prediction. We did win five states though, but it did not include Perlis and Terengganu. Perlis and Terengganu were switched with Perak and Selangor, the two states I said we will be able to deny Barisan Nasional its two-thirds majority in the State Assembly. Nevertheless, it was still five and the five are not all in the Malay heartland as what the opposition thought would happen. Three of the five are in 'mixed' states, which means Malay votes alone can't do the trick. You need the votes of the Indians and Chinese as well. Even PAS candidates such as Dr Siti Mariah won in seats where the Malays are a minority and unless you can get overwhelming support from the non-Muslims it would be impossible to win.

And that was when the problem started, when the opposition unexpectedly won the three 'mixed' states. Thereafter, the opposition did not know what to do. It took awhile for it to sink in it that the next step would be to quickly form the government. Instead, they got sidetracked and the whole process got delayed. Fine, there were some 'real' issues -- at least to those opposition leaders although I do not see them as real enough issues -- but some were so stupid that I felt like kicking these lamebrain dodo birds in the backside.

For example, when you have an audience with the Sultan during the swearing-in ceremony, you need to be properly attired. Proper protocol needs to be observed. Certainly you cannot use jeans, T-shirts and slippers. Malays need to wear a Baju Melayu and non-Malays a suit (not a sports jacket which does not match the pants). Malay women must be in Baju Kurung and non-Malay women must be in a dress -- not wearing pants like what one DAP State Assemblywoman did recently. Malay women should wear a scarf or selendang (no need to fully cover the head) and the men must wear a songkok, preferably even non-Malays though they may be wearing a suit instead of a Baju Melayu.

Even when you have an audience with the Thai King, Japanese Emperor, or the Queen of England there are dress codes to observe. But the DAP State Assemblymen refuse to wear a songkok. They argue that they refuse to 'look like a Malay'. Hey, these same people are wearing a suit. Why do they not protest for being asked to look like a 'yellow' Mat Salleh? A suit is not Chinese. It is western. You don't mind wearing a suit and start looking like a banana -- yellow outside but white inside -- but you refuse to wear a songkok because it is a Malay thing. “We are not Muslims,” they reply. Indonesians also wear songkoks and millions who do are not Muslims, they are Christians.

Teng Chang Khim of DAP wants to become the Deputy Menteri Besar of Selangor. He has organised demonstrations the last couple of days to pressure his own party into proposing his name for Deputy Menteri Besar. But he refuses to wear a songkok. Instead, he wants to become a Chinese 'hero' by boycotting the audience with the Sultan of Selangor to protest being asked to wear a songkok. He wants to become the Deputy Menteri Besar but he boycotts the Sultan. What the fuck! How the hell is he going to be sworn in as the Deputy Menteri Besar if he refuses to go meet the Sultan? Does he want the Sultan to just send him a SMS?

The formation of the Selangor state government has to face delay just because, amongst others, one DAP man wants to become a Chinese 'hero' by refusing to wear a songkok. Anyway, the Sultan has helped solve Teng's dilemma by declaring that there will be no post of Deputy Menteri Besar. Now Teng need not worry whether he should continue being a Chinese 'hero' or transform into a 'traitor to the Chinese race' by wearing a songkok. And I suggest Teng also not be appointed an EXCO Member or else he would be placed in a serious dilemma as to whether to wear a songkok or not when he has to appear before the Sultan to take his oath of office.

Maybe back home you wear your shoes in your house. But when you come to my house you take off your shoes. And if you refuse to do so because you do not want to 'look like a Malay' then no need to come to my house. In my house I dictate the house rules and dress code. This is my home and I am king of my castle. You are just my guest and you must act like how a guest should act. And if I invite you for my daughter's wedding, and if I say that all guests must wear a songkok, you can decide whether to boycott my daughter's wedding or come wearing a songkok.

These DAP chaps are trying to become heroes of the Chinese race. They do not want to have anything to do with what is perceived as Islamic or Malay traditions. Malays are very happy to respect and observe Chinese traditions. If you invite us to your house for a wedding, and if you dictate the dress code, we would be very happy to comply. We will not boycott the wedding just because we do not want to do what is considered Chinese. But this does not appear to be the Chinese mentality at all.

Come on DAP. What is so jijik about a songkok? There are more important things to do than fight with the Sultan over what we should place on our heads when we appear before His Highness to take our oath of office. We have Selangor, the most important state in Malaysia, to run. Do you mean to say that just because of a songkok you are prepared to let the whole state government fall?

And another thing, what is it with these protest demonstrations? You are no longer the opposition. You should stop thinking like the opposition and start acting like the ruling government because that is what you are. Small things please small minds. And that is what we have voted into office, leaders with small minds. And these small minds get easily distracted by small things instead of quickly forming the government and start running the state. Until today, one week after winning the elections, the Selangor State Government has not been formed yet. Thus far only the Menteri Besar has been sworn in. The State EXCO, which is the machinery that actually runs the states, has not been set up yet or taken its oath of office.

We hope the new Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, will not repeat Khir Toyo's mistake. We just kicked Khir Toyo out and the last thing we want is to see a clone of the man we just sent packing. Khir Toyo held too many portfolios and he kept all the important portfolios to himself while the 'useless' portfolios were given to the other EXCO Members. This is exactly what Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is doing. Abdullah kept all the key Ministries for himself. And because he is holding too many Ministries, and all the important ones on top of that, his Ministries are not functioning and therefore the country is not functioning as well.

Khalid must overhaul the old, failed system. He should focus on being a good Menteri Besar and not try to monopolise all the portfolios, which will just swamp him and bog him down. There are many capable people, so he should get all the others to help him the run the state. He should not treat the Selangor state government as a family sundry shop where the main man is salesman, checkout counter clerk, cashier, bookkeeper and storekeeper all in one. Sure, the Menteri Besar should also hold one or two portfolios, but he should not hog six or seven of the most important portfolios and then throw the minor ones to the others. This will just ensure failure and come the next election the voters will kick him out and will give the state back to Barisan Nasional. And it will be 30 years before the opposition can ever dream of retaking the state.

Let me say this again. You are no longer the opposition, so please stop thinking and acting like an opposition. You are now the government, so please get down to acting like a government. The voters put you in office to run the state so can we please see you running the state. All this haggling over how many EXCO seats each party should get and who should be the EXCO Members and whether to wear a songkok or not has delayed the setting up of the government and this has allowed the previous administration to shred and destroy many crucial documents. By the time you finally take over many files will no longer exist.

There is one thing you have forgotten. The Menteri Besar and EXCO Member posts do not belong to the political parties. They belong to us, the rakyat who voted for you. So can PKR, DAP and PAS please stop quarrelling. Stop demanding you want this and you want that because all these posts do not belong to you. They belong to us. By right you should have come back to ask us, the voters who put you in office, as to what you should do. It is we, the voters, who should have the final say. Now, not only do you ignore us, the voters, when you set up the government, but you squabble amongst yourselves as if all this belongs to you in the first place.

The state governments do not belong to DAP or PKR or PAS. They belong to the voters. We are only entrusting you to manage our assets. But you act as if the state and the positions in the state belong to you and you fight with each other for control over them. If you are not careful I am going to mobilise thousands of rakyat and we will march to the Menteri Besar's office to give you a hard kick on your backside. And don't test us. We will do it. We, the rakyat, give you till Monday to prove to us you have a functioning state government. If not, on Tuesday, expect a huge crowd outside your office.

The rakyat have spoken. When we said we, the voters, will deny Barisan Nasional its two-thirds majority in Parliament and will at the same time give you five states, we did just that. And if we say we will be in front of your office on Tuesday if by Monday we don't see a functioning government, you can bet your sweet ninny we will do just that as well.

In the meantime, to all voters, standby in case we need you to be part of the largest assembly of voters Selangor State has ever seen in 50 years since Merdeka. Either we see a functioning government or we are going storm the Selangor State Secretariat building just like the French stormed the Bastille.

Yellow card for the opposition

The market perception is that PKR can't be trusted. The common belief is that the people in PKR can be bought. But it appears like PAS and DAP are bigger slime-balls than PKR. At least PKR did not try to sabotage the forming of the Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor state governments.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Lim Kit Siang is a passionate person. That is not crime I suppose because I too am a passionate person. I am passionate about my wife and I am passionate about Malaysia Today. I expect this passion is required in my line of work and to stay focused for decades on end. I have been with my wife since 1968, one year before May 13, and to spend 40 years with the same woman and still feel like we are on honeymoon does require a lot of passion. I may have been working on Malaysia Today just four years now, but it is four straight years, 365 days a year, morning till evening, with no holidays in between. And six years before that since 1998 I was working on www.freeanwar.com as well as my own website that carried my name. (I was hoping that after ten long, non-stop years I could go into retirement, but it now appears I have more work ahead of me compared to the first ten years before this).

Anyway, back to that passion bit. While Kit Siang and I share the same thing in common, we are both passionate, I would like to believe that my passion is positive while I am yet to decide how to categorise the Grand Old Man of DAP's passion. From where I am sitting, Kit Siang is passionately opposed to Islam and this does not bode well for DAP at all.

But Kit Siang is merely the 'non-executive' Chairman of DAP. Is it not the Secretary-General who has executive powers instead of the Chairman? Why then is Kit Siang making all these damaging statements when in the first place he should not be the one making them. When he was the Secretary-General, he was the one running the party while Chan Man Hin, the Chairman, sat quietly in the background and did not ruffle anyone's feathers. Now that he is the Chairman, Kit Siang should also sit quietly in the background and allow the Secretary-General to run the party like how he did before this when he was the Secretary-General. Kit Siang is not DAP and DAP is not Kit Siang. Apparently, this important fact seems to escape him.

For more than four years now PAS has never touted the Islamic State issue. For all intents and purposes, PAS has practically dropped the Islamic State issue, though they did so silently and gave the issue the decent burial it deserves. Apparently this is still not good enough for Kit Siang. He wants PAS to stand up on a soapbox and openly declare that it is abandoning Islam. Would in that same breath Kit Siang also want PAS to abandon the 'Islam' word in its party name and change the name to Parti Melayu or Parti Malaysia or something like that (because that would be what it would tantamount to)?

In the recent 2008 general election campaign, the DAP ceramahs were practically flooded with PAS flags and T-shirts. Motorcycle convoys with riders wearing PAS T-shirts and carrying PAS flags escorted the DAP candidates as they made their rounds to meet the voters and to speak at the ceramahs. Why did DAP not chase away these people? Some of them were Malays from PAS while many were Indians from Hindraf. Yes, Indians from Hindraf were wearing PAS T-shirts and carrying PAS flags at these DAP events. But no one chided these people or demanded that the 'offensive' PAS paraphernalia openly displayed by PAS and Hindraf activists be removed from sight.

When DAP wants to win votes it does not mind the presence of PAS members or their T-shirts and flags. Now that it has won the votes, DAP does not want to have anything to do with PAS. Hello....brother....it does not work that way. You won with the help of PAS members so now you have to live with them as partners for at least until the next election. Then, in the next election, maybe PAS and DAP can engage in three-corner fights and we shall see who wins the most number of seats.

In both the 1999 and 2004 general elections, DAP could only win 10 seats in Parliament and did not have enough state seats to form the government. Now, not only is DAP's 28 Parliament seats a new record for the party, but it even won enough seats to form the state government in Penang. And this was achieved not just on anti-Islam Chinese votes alone. It required Malay and Indian votes as well to achieve this.

DAP is not an anti-Islam Chinese party. It would get nowhere as an anti-Islam Chinese party. Even Chinese themselves do not want and will not support an anti-Islam Chinese party. Most Chinese are intelligent enough to know that DAP will not get anywhere as an anti-Islam Chinese party. So why this passionate anti-Islam stand?

Is Kit Siang's 'stage-show' merely a distraction from what ails DAP in Selangor? Supporters of Teng Chang Khim, Teresa Kok and Ronnie Liu are locked in battle. Each has their clique that wants to see their candidate installed as the Deputy Menteri Besar of Selangor. But there is no Deputy Menteri Besar post and His Highness the Sultan of Selangor will not appoint one. So why bother to squabble over who should be the candidate to fill a post that does not exist? Yesterday, Teng's supporters held a demonstration to demand that their man gets appointed as the Deputy Menteri Besar. In spite of the announcement that there shall not be any Deputy Menteri Besar, today, they plan to hold another demonstration and MCA and Gerakan are going to send their supporters to help Teng mobilise a crowd of 10,000 to prove that his support is overwhelming. Can we please remember this name and come next election we send him to where Zakaria Deros now resides?

Three names were submitted to His Highness the Sultan of Perak. As they could not agree as to who of the three should be the new Menteri Besar of Perak, they left it to Tuanku in his wisdom to decide who should be the Menteri Besar. Tuanku looked at the State Constitution and Tuanku looked at the candidates. PKR said their candidate is the least qualified of the three and it has no objections to one of the other two from PAS or DAP being selected. PKR does not want to insist on its candidate just for the sake that the Menteri Besar is a PKR man.

Before Tuanku could decide, Ahmad Awang jumped the gun and announced that the Menteri Besar will be from PAS. Even the PAS President was caught by surprise. But the damage had been done so all he could do was hold his tongue. PKR knows that PAS Perak has a mind of its own and is practically uncontrollable. The PAS party structure is such that each state is independent, practically autonomous, unlike Umno where the President rules with an iron fist like the true dictator that he is. Even the Umno President's son-in-law has more power than the state heads of Umno who most times would also be the Chief Minister (Menteri Besar) of that state. There is of course both good and bad in such an arrangement but there is certainly more good than bad as Umno has so many times proven.

So PAS Perak jumped the gun. The PAS central leadership bit their lips and allowed the 'transgression' to pass. PKR too, in the spirit of comradeship, decided to say nothing lest it upset the delicate partnership that was in the midst of being formed and had yet to take off. But DAP decided to oppose it and to boycott the swearing in of the new government, giving the impression it was still anti-Islam in spite of the strong presence of PAS in DAP's recent election campaign and in spite of the large number of Malay votes it garnered to be able to do as well as it did.

PAS, too, has not been too honest about what happened in Perak. It realises that DAP would not be too comfortable with a PAS Menteri Besar so it stole the thunder and hoped that the 'early announcement' would 'lock' DAP and PKR and leave them no more room for negotiations. PKR was quite happy to not negotiate the issue anyway so the 'hijacking' was totally unnecessary. It just made matters worse when the end result was a hopping mad DAP that would rather see Perak fall back to Barisan Nasional than a PAS Menteri Besar taking charge of the state.

In Selangor, Hassan Ali engaged in secret negotiations with Khir Toyo to explore the possibility of PAS forming an alliance with Umno to jointly rule the state. This alliance would of course exclude PKR and DAP who were going to be Menteri Besar and Deputy Menteri Besar respectively. The delay in forming the state government due to the disagreements and the DAP infighting about who should be the Deputy Menteri Besar meant that this would give Hassan and Khir time to come to an agreement. But they could not come to an agreement because both Hassan and Khir wanted to be Menteri Besar and none would back down in favour of the other.

This is treason of the highest degree and Hassan Ali should be tied to a tree and shot. I would do that myself if not for the fact that I would like to live a couple of years longer instead of being hanged by the neck until I die before the year is out.

The market perception is that PKR can't be trusted. The common belief is that the people in PKR can be bought. In fact, Azalina did buy off one PKR candidate for RM1 million so that she could win the election uncontested. And in other parts of Malaysia a couple of other PKR candidates were bought off as well, the going price being RM1 million per head. But it appears like PAS and DAP are bigger slime-balls than PKR. At least PKR did not try to sabotage the forming of the Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor state governments.

The opposition parties have disappointed more than 50% of Peninsular Malaysia voters who gave them five states and helped deny Barisan Nasional its two-thirds majority in Parliament. Consider this your yellow card. If you are not careful, Barisan Nasional can call for an election on 8 March 2011, the earliest legally allowed, and the voters will give the opposition its red card. Then the opposition can be sent back to where it came from, a dog barking at a hill (anjing salak bukit). Maybe that is all the opposition is good for. Maybe all the opposition is capable of doing is to bark at the hill while Barisan Nasional just laughs at them and asks them to go back to China or India or wherever it is that they came from.

Lim Kit Siang said Barisan Rakyat does not exist. Hello....brother.....it does exist lah. Barisan Rakyat is the people's front or people's movement. This is the people's power or makkal sakhti that we screamed at every ceramah for two weeks leading to the 8 March 2008 general election. Barisan Rakyat is not Barisan Alternatif lah. Barisan Alternatif is a two-party coalition comprising of PAS and PKR, which DAP was also once a member of. Barisan Rakyat, however, is the people's front. It is a movement of people who support all those six political parties which endorsed THE PEOPLE'S VOICE and THE PEOPLE'S DECLARATION just before the recent general election. Barisan Alternatif, the two-party coalition (plus DAP of course) did not win the recent general election. The recent general election was won by Barisan Rakyat, the people's movement, a coalition of all races.

Let me tell you, my dear Kit, that Barisan Rakyat not only does exist but is also a very potent force. Barisan Rakyat will decide who gets to form the government. And Barisan Rakyat can also kick you out and change the government if you do not perform or you misbehave. And, today, Barisan Rakyat has given you a yellow card. Don't force Barisan Rakyat to give you a red card the next time around.

Makkal sakhti. Suara rakyat, suara keramat. People's power.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Malaysia Ushers In Democracy

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Mar 12 (IPS) - Following last weekend’s general elections, Malaysia finds itself firmly among South-east Asia’s promising democracies that afford space for strong opposition voices to rein in their governments.

The impressive showing of the opposition parties at Saturday’s poll saw the ruling National Front (NF) coalition (or Barisan Nasional), lose its dominant grip on power after 40 years. Opposition lawmakers won 82 out of the 222 seats in the parliament, a dramatic increase from the 19 seats they had held in the outgoing legislature. The opposition also gained control of five of Malaysia’s 13 states.

Till this month’s poll, the NF had continued to enjoy a two-thirds majority in parliament, consequently giving rise to strong autocratic leaders like the former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who ruled the country for 22 years. But the current leader, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, faces a new political reality, after the governing coalition he led won 140 seats, a little over 60 percent of the constituencies.

‘’We are very surprised with the results, but it is clear that the issues we campaigned on like corruption, the economy and high crime rate struck a chord with the electorate,’’ said Teresa Kok, who was returned to parliament for the third time for the opposition Democratic Action Party. ‘’Finally, the people of Malaysia felt bold enough to demand for change. This has never happened before.’’

The electoral results are a landmark for democratic politics in the country, she added during a telephone interview from Kuala Lumpur. ‘’It opens the space for a two-party system.’’

The significance of the moment was not lost on commentators in the local mainstream media, where government pressure has historically kept a tight lid on dissent. ‘’In the years to come this election may well be remembered as Malaysia’s rite of passage to democracy,’’ wrote Shad Saleem Faruqi in the Internet edition of the ‘Star’ newspaper. ‘’A maturing electorate saw through all the political rhetoric, the issues of corruption, arrogance of power and price rises.’’

Even some of the country’s regular foreign critics offered a bouquet. ‘’Malaysia’s elections this past weekend should be heralded as an important gain for democracy in South-east Asia,’’ remarked Freedom House, the Washington D.C.-based political and civil liberties watchdog, in a statement released Tuesday. ‘’Despite attempts by the ruling coalition to suppress opposition voices by arresting activists and restricting public demonstrations, opposition parties quadrupled the number of seats they hold, gaining the capacity to block government efforts to amend the constitution, as it has done frequently in the past.’’

In fact, the political realignment in Malaysia deals a blow to an old political order that had defined a regional grouping since its inception, the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN). The five founding countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- had governments that made a strong case for dominant one-party states, where any hint of opposition was crushed.

Consequently, ASEAN was the home to strongmen like Indonesian leader Suharto, Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos and authoritarian prime ministers like Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and Mahathir of Malaysia. The policy of the one-party state was even defended by Lee and Mahathir as a feature of ‘’Asian values,’’ where political and civil liberties had to give way to development and economic progress.

Today, however, Singapore is the only founding member of ASEAN still clinging to the old political order of the strong one-party state. For company in the regional grouping, which has marked 41 years and has expanded to 10, the affluent city-state has communist-ruled countries Vietnam and Laos, military-ruled Burma and the absolute monarchy in Brunei. Cambodia, the other ASEAN member, has more political freedom.

Yet the prospect of the political wave that swept through Malaysia being repeated in other ASEAN countries appears remote. Most so in Singapore, the richest and most developed of ASEANs remaining one-party states. The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has held on to power since 1959. It holds 82 of the 84 seats in the current parliament, which was elected in 2006. The PAP enjoyed a similar dominance in the last parliament, following the 2001 poll.

‘’The ruling party sees an opposition party as a threat and it pursues a lot of measures to keep the opposition outside the political spectrum,’’ Chee Soon Juan, leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, said in a telephone interview from the city-state. ‘’It has been done by filing lawsuits against opposition figures, using the internal security act and even banning podcasts and using SMS during election campaigns.’’

Yet he concedes that Malaysia’s transformation is ‘’very encouraging’’ for opposition parties in the region that face autocratic regimes. ‘’There are lessons to be learnt. The opposition parties and activists in Malaysia have been pushing the limits of the government, and they are now enjoying the fruits of their labour.’’

And for ASEAN to grow up politically, the fear among the majority of the group’s countries to embrace a stronger and vocal opposition has to end, says Endy Bayuni, chief editor of ‘The Jakarta Post’. ‘’Countries need healthy debates in parliament, which will now happen in Malaysia. It means that the government will have to explain and fight for its policies.’’
The Malaysian polls confirm that people have grown tired of the arguments for the strong one-party state, he explained during a telephone interview from Jakarta. ‘’It may have served governments during the early stages of nation-building but not now. That era is over.’’ - ALIRAN

BN 'made big mistake with early polls and media attacks on Anwar'

Another move that contributed to the BN's massive losses, said Dr Farish, was the decision to scrap the use of indelible ink, which had been aimed at curbing people from voting more than once.

Both strategies backfired and helped Anwar gain support for opposition: Experts

By Zackaria Abdul Rahim, THE STRAITS TIMES

THE ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition might have been able to prevent its election disaster had it let former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim run, a panel of experts in Singapore said yesterday.

Holding elections early allowed the charismatic opposition leader to roam round the country stumping for the opposition instead of being tied down to campaigning for himself in one constituency, they said.

That 'fundamentally flawed strategy' contributed to the big swing against the BN at the polls, concluded the panel at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University.

After his imprisonment for corruption, Datuk Seri Anwar was barred from holding public office until April 15. Thus he was free to campaign anywhere; he even gave a speech at a financial conference in Singapore last Wednesday, just days before the election.

The visit gave the government more fodder for the anti-Anwar campaign it conducted in the country's pro-government newspapers.

'Perhaps, for the Malay Muslim electorate, a certain sensitivity has been touched because this was a man who had been put in jail, beaten up by the IGP (Inspector-General of Police) of Malaysia,' said Dr Farish Noor, Senior Fellow at RSIS. 'He had been demonised in the media, and then there was this unrelenting attack on Anwar Ibrahim for four days.'

Voters in Kelantan and Terengganu receive only Berita Harian and Utusan newspapers, he noted.

'And the attacks in Utusan and Berita Harian took up half the contents of each paper,' he said.

'When you heap this relentless barrage of abuse on Anwar Ibrahim, without giving him a chance to even reply, the sympathy simply swung in his favour.'

Other members of the panel, chaired by Associate Professor Joseph Liow, RSIS' head of research, were: Professor Shamsul A.B., founding director of the Institute of Ethnic Studies at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; RSIS' senior fellow, Mr Yang Razali Kassim; and Ms Jacqueline Ann Surin, former Sun journalist and founder of the website malaysiavotes.com.

Another move that contributed to the BN's massive losses, said Dr Farish, was the decision to scrap the use of indelible ink, which had been aimed at curbing people from voting more than once.

'This immediately sent out a very clear message to a lot of the supporters of PAS (Parti Islam SeMalaysia) and the opposition in particular that there is going to be massive vote-rigging, so you better go out and vote,' he said. 'Perhaps, it made the pro-government supporters a bit more lax.'

The presence of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin on the campaign circuit may have also backfired.

Dr Farish said that Mr Khairy, as the Umno deputy Youth chief, is projected as a role model for young Malaysians, but he really epitomises the gap between 'rich and poor' families.

'(So), some of the PAS leaders were quite happy when Khairy came to Kelantan,' he explained.

Thus, the panel yesterday agreed, the combined anger of not just the Chinese and Indians, but also the Malays, hurt the BN.

'It is quite clear it is the Malay backlash that pulled down the BN,' said Prof Shamsul.

He added that while Chinese voters are touchy about language, culture and education, Malay voters are protective of morality and Islam.

'It is quite interesting that the Malays have decided that the BN is not good morally and it doesn't look after Islam, and that's why we don't want you,' he said.

Dr Farish said that the Malay Muslim electorate has rejected the concept of Islam Hadhari promoted by Datuk Seri Abdullah in 2004.

He said that ordinary Malays see Islam Hadhari as building a 'RM250 million (S$109 million) Islamic theme park', - an allusion to the extravagant Crystal Mosque in Terengganu.

He showed a photo of a poster put up by PAS outside the mosque, which read: 'Never before this has a RM250 million mosque been built only for tourists. This is Islam Hadhari.'

Another poster reminded the electorate that Umno had destroyed mosques in the past.

Dr Farish interpreted the voters' thoughts as: 'Why should we build a mosque just to attract tourists. We want it for us.'

Yet another poster, with the tagline of Islam Hadhari, highlighted the social ills that have plagued Malaysia's Malays: Mat Rempit (biker gang), teenage couples holding hands, gangsterism in school, alcohol consumption and smoking.

The Tuah Syndrome: Resistance to change

by Maria Zain

(Harakah): Formal organisations are often described as inorganic. They are highly resistant to change and do not deviate from their normal practices that have been carved into stone tradition over the years. Culturally, they are cold and fall under autocratic leadership.

They observe strict reporting lines and their decision making is often slow – their decisions' effectiveness also are shallow, usually after they fail to address pertinent issues within the organisation or in the external environment.

Due to their lack of flexibility as well as lack of transparency, those who are privy to the results of the decision (i.e. employees, suppliers and even clients) do not have their opinions and ideals that represent their interests, incorporated into the result of the decision. This usually breeds resentment and builds poor rapport between the different hierarchical levels as well as with the different affiliated parties.

The Formality of Change

Poor communication lines, however, are not the prime reason for distasteful cultural breakdowns. The "change factor" instigates a higher level of irritancy and stubbornness that hinders fresh new blood to infiltrate the old system. The formal organisation is classified as one that has a saturated level of productivity. Members of the organisation "go through the motions" in a robotic, scheduled manner without innovation or the initiative to change.

Not only is the change factor a signalling threat to the formal organisation's cultural norm and its practices, it is a blazing sign of disrespect and defiance. Those who encourage change and instigate new policies and practices are challenging the norm – that tradition carved in stone.

Leadership and Change

Leadership is the nucleus that solidifies the formal organisation. Decision making especially, can only be channelled to the person in charge. Processes and work flows operate rigidly in accordance with the autocracy that forms the nucleus of leadership.

In an organic, modern organisation, leadership plays an important role in delegation and empowerment. Though the leader is still respected as the person in charge, he has the liberty of passing on responsibilities to other subordinates with the underlying means of sharing the rewards of positive outcomes.

Empowerment however, also involves responsibility of failure. Those with acquired decision-making responsibilities are also jointly responsible for any negative results and feedback. An organic organisation therefore reduces the problem of blind loyalty; it requires subordinates to think for themselves, provide a thorough assessment of the problem at hand; and at times, question the norms, and move out of their comfort zone.

Over twenty years ago, Malaysian textbooks relaying "Sejarah Melayu" spoke of Hang Jebat, a warrior under the administration of the Sultan of Malacca. He runs amuck after he learns of the alleged death of Admiral Hang Tuah. Caught in between his friendship of Hang Tuah and his animosity towards the Sultan's amoral affairs, Jebat challenges the authority that he had always served loyally, until he felt the need to take a different stand.

Tuah on the other hand, became furious at his comrade's outburst of treason. In turn, he sought to protect the Sultan, the same man who had ordered his execution (for allegedly coveting a palace maid-servant). He resurfaced from his hiding place and killed Jebat. Changes in Malaysian History

Warriors Jebat and Tuah are mentioned in passing in today's textbooks; with a greater emphasis on Hang Tuah, as the Admiral during the Sultan's reign. The new syllabi include later events that mark the milestone developments of Malaysia – such as the erection of the Twin Towers, that were once, for a short time, the tallest buildings in the world.

Tuah and Jebat have nearly become part of folklore in today's society – especially for those whose interests do not necessarily lie in "Sejarah Melayu." But many still believe in Tuah and Jebat. Tuah is remembered as the Admiral who demonstrated unfaltering loyalty towards his leader, so much so that it has been described as blind loyalty; whereas Jebat is remembered as the hero who died in efforts to protect Tuah's honour – just by challenging the Sultan.

Changing Malaysian Culture

Though Jebat is the hero to many, Malaysian culture, inseminated from the tender age of seven, nurtures children to learn as Tuah did. In the past, and even now, the learning system does not encourage - even the youngest of children - to ask questions or to ask too many questions. A stone-hard tradition is to "do whatever you are told," or "to listen to the teacher at all times."

Not allowing to be questioned fortifies authority and respect (in a dictatorial old-fashioned way) but at the same time it inhibits curiosity as well as the learning curve, in those who are actually willing to learn. Of course times are changing, slowly - but they are changing. The formal organisation is metamorphosing into an organic one; children are allowed to partake more in the learning process at home and at school.

Jebat lives on without his name emblazoned in text books leaving more Malaysians compelled to install the need of free-will; to be able to question the norm; and to move on beyond the comfort zone in efforts to embrace the change factor and eliminate blind loyalty altogether. Self-empowerment creates the need for fresh new blood in the system and is an ever-changing learning curve in its own right. Installing the Jebat factor is like pouring water onto the stone-cold tradition. The rock eventually cracks and splits open as the water freezes and liquidises in accordance with its surroundings. Leadership therefore, remains autocratic, if there is no Jebat.

Changing Leadership Dynamics

Leadership progression is an essential key to the shifting of organisations / bodies / individuals to have an organic outlook to the surroundings. Leadership styles are seen everywhere: in the corporate world, within the government, on reality shows, prime time television dramas and even in cartoons.

Legendary sci-fi drama, Star Trek, for example, travels through time displaying different forms of leadership qualities through their ship captains such as James Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko and Kathryn Janeway.

Kirk (William Shatner) demonstrates the autocratic leadership style in the operations of the ship, and also in combat whereas Picard (Patrick Stewart) is illustrated as the captain who manages by objectives – his diplomacy and flexibility leaves him strongly undefeated by enemy lines.

Sisko is played by African American actor Avery Brooks, and Janeway, the first female captain, (Kate Mulgrew), both represent diversity in leadership – a major cultural change that causes dismay to formal organisations - even ones that exist today.

Star Trek: A Product of Islamic History?

Though history books may change and should change to reflect newer milestones, the book called the Qur'an, does not – it has already incorporated the complete lifestyle for all Muslims including those elements related to management and leadership. Through the narrations of the Qur'an and the complementary Hadiths, all four management styles and salient issues embossed in Captains Kirk, Picard, Sisco and Janeway characters can be found.

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) demonstrated both of Kirk and Picard's portrayed leadership qualities. The former was mostly seen during Islam's early years where focus on new principles needed to be emphasised. As the first civilisation formed in Madinah, the shura (the consultation panel), was established to incorporate the diverse interests of Muslims at the time – Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has always been seen by scholars to take a consultative approach in his leadership style. Amongst his consultants were Abu Bakr Siddiq, Ali bin Abi Talib and Umm Salama. This style was empowered upon the other iconic leaders, besides those already mentioned - such as Umar bin Khattab, Uthman bin Affan and Abdul Rahman bin Auf.

Delegations to leaders that fell out of the norm's realm sprouted "change factors" through Usamah bin Zaid (an extremely young leader); Bilal bin Ra'bah (an Ethiopian slave); Salman al-Farisi (a Persian); and many women who bravely challenged the norm, including sisters Aishah and Asma bint Abu Bakr, Zainab bint Jahsh, Fatimah bint Muhammad and Saffiyah bint Hayy (who was also a Jewish revert).

Formation of Civilisation through Change

The first formation of civilisation promoted the "change factor" through the different leaders such as Bilal, Umar, Ali, Aishah, Saffiyyah and Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with all of them). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) praised those who were not shy to ask questions; the young began to teach the elderly to read; the weak challenged rulings that were enacted in public, when they felt new legislation were unjust; and women held important positions in public organisations (Bukhari).

The first generation of Muslims challenged nearly all their cultural norms through the directives of the Qur'an; they were the "Jebats" in their own rights. Through the evolving diverse society, a new breed of principles were put into practice – needless to say, they encompass all aspects relevant for a human's survival throughout his or her lifetime; and were formulated with sensitivity to changes in time.

The principles still apply until today; however, cultural norms over the centuries have formed and have been solidified in tradition. Only the organisation / body / individual that is organic enough will be able to overturn saturated practices that have allowed productivity to wane.

The Organics of Change

The organic structure is classified by one that has a strong learning curve and is open to change. It requires bravery and empowerment that can question the saturated processes, yet has to be executed in a manner that is embalmed with responsibility of one's actions.

Most importantly the organic organisation / authority / body / individual embraces the change factor as part of the cultural norm – changes do not lead to disruptions but rather reduce the robotic and cold cultural hindrances of progress.

They eliminate the Tuah syndrome of resentment towards change and encompass the zeal of the first generation of Muslims who were brave enough to overturn and discontinue obsolete, ineffective and amoral pagan practices.-ES

Apology to Perak Sultan and Regent - No offence intended

Posted by kasee
Thursday, 13 March 2008

My three-paragraph statement at 7 pm last night that the DAP Central Executive Committee emergency meeting on 9th March had not given approval for a PAS Mentri Besar to head a Perak coalition state government was not made out of disrespect to the Perak Sultan and Regent both whom I have always held in the highest regard and I apologise for any offence caused. The statement was on the party position at the time.
There have been further discussions and developments on the matter in the hours after the statement. Announcements of the latest position will be made.

Lim Kit Siang

DAP its own worst enemy

The Malays are prepared to accept a Chinese Menteri Besar. The Malays are prepared to accept a Chinese Menteri Besar even if that Chinese is from DAP. And the Malays left it entirely to Tuanku to decide if Tuanku wants a Malay or Chinese Menteri Besar, never mind from which political party he may be from.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The last few days, while everyone was still in euphoria and celebrating the recent 'victory' in the 12th general election, a few Malays who can be regarded as from amongst the elite, intellectual, progressive and privileged-class were busy meeting and planning preparations for the next general election due in 2013 if this government goes the full five-year term. Yes, even before the Perak and Selangor state governments could take their oath of office, this handful of people were already hard at work contemplating the next election in five years time though most of these 'concerned' Malays do not even know if they are going to still be alive five years from now.

The plan was simple. Leave PKR to its own devises and allow it to sort out its affairs. After all, PKR has Anwar Ibrahim and who better than this one-time Finance Minister cum Deputy Prime Minister to sort out the party that was born out of his six years incarceration. DAP and PAS, however, would need some weaning. And they would have to be cajoled and coaxed into a massive image makeover from the present Ketuanan Cina or Chinese chauvinism and Islamic fundamentalist or extremist/Taliban baggage that they are currently carrying.

The make-up of this group of Malays was quite a mixed bag. There were Umno die-hards, civil society movements types, revolutionary wannabes; basically not the usual Malays you would meet in a mosque or government department. But they were Malays and Muslims nevertheless. The only difference about these Malays as opposed to the 'usual' Malays was that they all shared one thing in common -- they would like to see emerge in Malaysia a single 'race' that no longer carried the label of Malay, Chinese and Indian and who were no longer separated by religious differences and intolerance.

I woke up early this morning to start updating Malaysia Today and after a ten-hour stint left for a 6.00pm meeting followed by a dinner appointment. I returned home at 1.00am and thought that I could at last jump into bed and get a good night's sleep. Twenty hours is, after all, a long haul and a 57 year old man like me needs as much beauty sleep as he can get. But sleep eludes me. I have been told that there are problems with forming the Selangor and Perak state governments and the problem appears to be DAP.

There goes our plan of transforming the Chinese face of DAP. There also goes our plan of transforming the Taliban face of PAS. It now looks like we shall have to go back to the drawing board and rethink our entire strategy.

The 'secret agenda' we hatched was to build up a group of Malays who share the same aspirations of seeing a one-Malaysian race emerge from the ashes of Barisan Nasional's 'defeat' in the last general election. Barisan Nasional is about race and was founded on race. It also needs to make race the main issue to stay relevant. If race no longer becomes the issue, then Barisan Nasional becomes irrelevant. And this can only happen if DAP is no longer perceived as a Chinese party and PAS a Taliban party.

It is now past 2.00am and I am still not asleep. I might as well stay awake and make it a 24-hour 'shift'. So, instead of hitting the sack, I am writing this article because if I don't then I can't sleep anyway so it makes no difference.

The PAS problem is simple. We are already talking to various non-Muslim Chinese to moot the idea of them joining PAS. We have of course not spoken to PAS yet so we really don't know if PAS will want non-Muslim Chinese as members. We hope they will though, as this will show the non-Muslims that PAS is not the enemy and that an Islamic party poses no danger to those not of the Muslim faith.

DAP is more dicey. They will of course not turn away Malays, as in the past Malays have even held key positions in the party. The question would be whether DAP would accept Malays as equals the same way they rant and rave that Chinese must be accepted as equals and that there should not be any first-class and second-class citizens. It is easy to dispense medicine but not that easy to take the same medicine you dispense others.

How wonderful to see Indians and Chinese not of the Muslim faith running around in PAS. How equally wonderful to see intellectual, progressive, elite and privileged-class Malays 'infesting' DAP. The mobilising would take over two or three years. Then, in 2010 or so, the exodus of non-Muslim, non-Malays into PAS and the Malays into DAP would commence in time for the next general election in 2012 or 2013. In one swoop, PAS and DAP would be transformed into true multi-racial, multi-religious parties and, together with PKR, Malaysians would have three 'Rakyat Malaysia' parties to choose from.

DAP says, never mind whether it is a black cat or a white cat. The most important thing is that the cat catches the mouse. DAP says, there must be a one-Malaysian race and not Malaysians labelled as Malays, Chinese and Indians. The Malays are ready for this. At least the intellectual, progressive, elite and privileged-class Malays are. And they are also ready to see the end of the New Economic Policy and a policy that considers deserving and needy cases, plus merit, as its replacement.

It takes two hands to clap though. The Malays are ready to take that one step forward. But if DAP keeps taking one step backwards, then that bridge can never be built and the divide will never be eliminated. Why must it always be Malays who are asked to sacrifice? Malays are prepared to sacrifice. But why must it be only the Malays who are asked to sacrifice? Should not nation-building be everyone's duty and not the duty of just one race.

The Malays are prepared to accept a Chinese Menteri Besar. The Malays are prepared to accept a Chinese Menteri Besar even if that Chinese is from DAP. And the Malays left it entirely to Tuanku to decide if Tuanku wants a Malay or Chinese Menteri Besar, never mind from which political party he may be from. But DAP won't accept a Malay Menteri Besar regardless if the Malay is from DAP, PKR or PAS. It must only be a Malay Menteri Besar who is not from PAS.

DAP says, this is people's power. DAP says, the people are the boss. This has been DAP's rallying call and battle-cry from one election to another. The 2008 general election was about people's power. The people demonstrated who is the boss in the 2008 general election. But DAP does not respect people's power nor regard the people as the boss in its decision to defy Tuanku by boycotting the swearing in of the Perak state government.

Between perception and reality

In spite of all the rhetoric, Barisan Nasional knows it lost the 2008 general election. The final result may show that it won, but if you exclude the one million 'stuffed votes', then this would translate to a loss.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Politics is not always what you see. Even if the great Houdini or David Copperfield tried their hands at politics, all the 'magic' in the world could not transform political perception into reality, and vice versa. The perception was, until midnight of 8 March 2008, is that the invincible Barisan Nasional could not be brought down. The reality is it can.

Another perception is that Barisan Nasional still won the 2008 General Election with a comfortable margin. Sure, it lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament. But it is still above the 112 seats it requires to form a government with a simple majority. The reality is, Barisan Nasional garnered less than 50% of the popular vote in Peninsular Malaysia. Only when the votes from Sabah and Sarawak are added in would Barisan Nasional's share of the popular votes increase above 50%, but even then only slightly above 50%. In other words, the ruling coalition versus opposition votes were split almost 50:50. But then the ruling coalition comprises of 14 political parties as opposed to the opposition's three. It was like a football match of 14 players versus only three.

Even then the football match analogy would not be that accurate. In this particular 'football match', the referee, linesmen and water-boy also kicked the ball and scored a few goals, every goal the opposition scored was declared foul, they tied the legs of the three opposition players so that they could not run but could only hop all over the field, and much more. And even before the kick-off, they declared that the 14 players from the ruling team had one million goals to their credit. This one million goal handicap were the quarter million postal votes and the estimated three quarters of a million 'phantom' voters. The ruling coalition had safely tucked away one million votes into the ballot box long before 8 March 2008. It was already 1 million-zero before the football game started.

Yet, in spite of all this -- in spite of the one million vote advantage, the mainstream media it controlled, the government machinery at its disposal, the police on its side, the Elections Commission as its fifteenth coalition member, the threats of Indians and Chinese 'losing their voice in the government' if they voted opposition, banning Raja Petra Kamarudin from speaking in Penang, and much, much more -- the best Barisan Nasional could do was win only half the votes.

The opposition fought with catapults and swords against an army that had helicopter gunships, rocket launchers, napalm bombs, night vision telescopes, and satellite tracking devices at its disposal. Even the Taliban of Afghanistan did not have that hard a time when it sent the Russians packing back to Moscow. Yet the opposition garnered 50% of the popular votes, denied Barisan Nasional its two-thirds majority in Parliament, and captured five states. If it had been a level playing field, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would no longer be the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

But Abdullah is not going to remain Prime Minister for long though. The next general election, which can be called any time after 8 March 2011 and before 8 March 2013, will be led by a new Prime Minister. This new Prime Minister might be from the ranks of Barisan Nasional, in particular Umno, but then again it might not.

The opposition needs just another 30 more Parliament seats to form the next federal government. If 30 Members of Parliament from any of the component members of Barisan Nasional, Umno included, cross over, then the Barisan Nasional government will fall. Sarawak and Sabah have more than 50 Parliament seats. And there are another 80 plus in Peninsular Malaysia. And all the opposition needs is just 30 from this more than 130.

Even if the rakyat are not yet ready for an opposition-led federal government but would like the Barisan Nasional government to remain in office for awhile longer to give the opposition time to prove it can manage the five states before being entrusted with the job of running this country, the Prime Minister can still be changed. And for that to happen, 30 Members of Parliament from Barisan Nasional just need to stand up and support an opposition vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister as soon as Parliament is convened.

When that happens, according to the Constitution, then the Agong has no choice but to elect a new Prime Minister from amongst the Members of the House whom, in His Majesty's opinion, would command the confidence of the majority of the House. Though this new Prime Minister must also be a Member of Parliament, he need not be from the ruling coalition. He could also be an opposition Member of Parliament just as long as he commands the confidence of the majority of the House. In other words, if the Agong is of the opinion that Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah would command the confidence of not less than 112 Parliamentarians, then His Majesty can appoint Ku Li as the new Prime Minister. And Ku Li appears to be the only Member of Parliament thus far who would get the support of both Barisan Nasional as well as the three opposition parties.

Abdullah will of course pre-empt this by offering Ku Li the position of Minister of Trade. Abdullah hopes that once Ku Li is made a Minister, and of a quite important portfolio on top of that, Ku Li would not entertain any thoughts of passing a vote of no confidence in Parliament against the Prime Minister. I suppose even millionaire Princes have their price and probably Ku Li's price is an important cabinet post.

In spite of all the rhetoric, Barisan Nasional knows it lost the 2008 general election. The final result may show that it won, but if you exclude the one million 'stuffed votes', then this would translate to a loss. Abdullah saw his majority slide by 7,000 votes. If the postal and phantom votes are excluded, then Abdullah would suffer the fate of Zam and Sharizat. In actual fact, Abdullah should have been automatically disqualified anyway since he never filed his 1999 election accounts. Any way you look at it, Abdullah is an illegitimate Prime Minister.

Abdullah's son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, too lost. On the first count he lost by 114 votes. He then demanded a recount and this 114-vote loss mysteriously transformed to a 5,000-vote win. The great David Copperfield himself has admitted that even he is not able to perform this trick. Khairy knows he lost. Every man and his dog knows he lost. Whatever you might say can never transform this perception into reality.

This could never have happened if Umno had not turned on Khairy. Opposition votes alone could never defeat Khairy. It needed Umno votes swinging to the opposition to be able to do this. And this is what alarmed Khairy. Rembau was a safe seat. No opposition candidate could have made it in Rembau unless Umno too votes opposition. And this is what happened on 8 March 2008 in Rembau.

The signal is clear. Abdullah and his son-in-law were not rejected by the opposition. They were rejected by Umno. So, looking at what happened in the 2008 general election, it is not a pie in the sky for 30 Members of Parliament from Barisan Nasional standing up to throw their support behind the opposition in passing a vote of no confidence against Abdullah at the next Parliament session. And the same simple majority would also not have any problems in accepting Ku Li as the new Prime Minister of Malaysia.

This is what lies in wait. And Abdullah and Khairy are frantically talking to each and every Barisan Nasional Member of Parliament to find out where they stand if such a scenario transpires. They are not leaving the opposition Members of Parliament out as well. Abdullah and Khairy are sending out feelers to see if PAS would like to join Barisan Nasional and be part of the ruling government. If PAS agrees to cross over, then not only would Abdullah be safe from a vote of no confidence, but Kelantan, Kedah, Perak and Selangor would also fall back into Barisan Nasional hands. Only one state, Penang, would remain opposition. They are also talking to those from PKR and offering millions to those who agree to cross-over. The going rate is RM10 million per head. And although the cost may total RM500 million or so, if they can get at least half the opposition Members of Parliament to cross over, then the price would be worth it and RM500 million would be peanuts to retain the post of Prime Minister, unchallenged, and getting back four of the five states under opposition control.

Tomorrow, we should see the Selangor and Perak state governments getting sworn in. PKR will lead Selangor and DAP, Perak. That would mean two states would be led by PAS, two by DAP, with one for PKR.

This is only the beginning. Winning the five states and denying Barisan Nasional its two-thirds majority in Parliament was damn difficult but still relatively easy compared to what lies ahead. We shall talk more about this later once all the state governments settle down. The problem now is money and that is the first thing we need to address. And Malaysia Today is already talking to various parties as to how we can attract investments into the five opposition-led states. We shall show the rakyat who voted for us how we run these five states in spite of being denied any federal funds. Then, come the next election, the rakyat will vote the opposition state governments back into office not because of rhetoric, fiery speeches and promises but because of performance and the ability to deliver. If not, expect all these states to go back to Barisan Nasional.