How should we judge a government?

In Malaysia, if you don't watch television or read newspapers, you are uninformed; but if you do, you are misinformed!

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience - Mark Twain

Why we should be against censorship in a court of law: Publicity is the very soul of justice … it keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial. - Jeremy Bentham

"Our government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no
responsibility at the other. " - Ronald Reagan

Government fed by the people

Government fed by the people

Career options

Career options
I suggest government... because nobody has ever been caught.

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?
Corruption is so prevalent it affects English language?

When there's too much dirt...

When there's too much dirt...
We need better tools... to cover up mega corruptions.

Prevent bullying now!

Prevent bullying now!
If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)

Sunday, April 17, 2011

How Pakatan Rakyat fared in the Sarawak elections

PKR improved by 200%, DAP 100% and PAS 0%! Just to show how misleading it can be when dealing with percentages.

In absolute terms, DAP did best, having increased their number of state assemblymen from 6 to 12, PKR increased theirs from 1 to 3, while PAS failed to make any inroad in Sarawak.

Notable defeats included Dr. George Chan, and Dominique Ng who left DAP to join PKR and turned independent when as incumbent state assemblyman he was sidelined by party leaders for this election. He even lost his deposit! So this must be a grim reminder to those who stood in the last general elections and got themselves elected under PR banners and had since joined BN.

Most people (except BN leaders and supporters) cannot deny that BN's victory was neither honourable nor fair. How could we feel otherwise when Mafrel and Bersih were not recognized and not allowed entry into Sarawak? Nazri had already admitted our Election Commission is biased because their commissioners are appointed by BN and they are not from heaven? PM and DPM left their duties as federal leaders to campaign shamelessly dishing out development funds and cash with the expected acquiescence of EC. While BN had the full support of government machinery and development funds to dish out and slush funds to use, the opposition's performance can be considered as credible and commendable. Again, we must not believe Nazri when he said there was democracy because we have elections every 4 or 5 years, and that elections were fair because opposition won and especially when they improved on their performance. Among other complaints, the reluctance to issue Form 14 by EC officials was a sure sign of possible rigging.

Rampant Vote-buying: It seems, at the long houses, a sum of money was left in each of them, depending on the number of occupants. They were told 'more where that came from' or something to that effect, after the results, provided BN candidates were elected! How could they refuse such windfalls which come only once every 4 or 5 years, and to vote otherwise would mean no such immediate enjoyment of money? BN will continue to rule so long as they are able to make money from mega projects which they could use to buy votes with impunity and the people continue to accept such money instead of changing the system.

The overall results of the Sarawak state election: BN 55, PR 15 and Independent 1. BN's list comprises PBB 35, PRS 8, SPDP 6, SUPP 6; PR's comprises DAP 12 and PKR 3; with one lone Independent. PBB on its own is one short of a simple majority and BN on the whole achieves more than the required 48 seats necessary for two-third majority in the Sarawak state assembly.

The Sun has done an excellent job in showing the results in graphic form:

3 comments:

bayi said...

DAP was more focused. PKR - bising-bising a lot; created a lot of poor impressions.

bayi said...

DAP was more focused. PKR - bising-bising a lot; created a lot of poor impressions.

KoSong Cafe said...

BN also focused on PKR in their attack because a strong PKR makes them more vulnerable in terms of Malay and native support. Gerrymandering created large electorates with Chinese majority so only limited seats could be won by DAP at the expense of SUPP. PBB seems to have won seats disproportionate to their population.

It is difficult to fight with unlimited money being distributed with impunity, with shameless Najib taking the lead.