Game over for Pakatan Rakyat? WHEN speculation is rife about the possible disintegration of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR), not least via media reports, I cannot help but ask two questions: What could Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak possibly gain by this? And what weapons do parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the [...]

KUALA LUMPUR, 7 April 2009: Voting in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat and the Bukit Selambau and Batang Ai state seat by-elections began simultaneously today when polling centres opened at 8am. In Bukit Gantang, Perak, Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Ismail Saffian faces embattled Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin from PAS and independent [...]

(Updated 11:08pm, 1 April 2009) IPOH, 1 April 2009: The High Court here today dismissed an application by Perak state assembly speaker V Sivakumar to set aside a suit filed against him by the assemblypersons for Behrang, Changkat Jering and Jelapang. Judge Datuk Balia Yusof Wahi also dismissed an application on the same matter by [...]

SUNGAI PETANI, 1 Apr 2009: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)’s N Gobalakrishnan has 24 hours to apologise publicly for accusing Bukit Selambau’s independent candidates of being Barisan Nasional (BN) stooges, said independent candidate L Sarala. Sarala “I also want him to show evidence today that we have received money from the BN to contest,” Sarala said [...]

NOMINATION day for the Bukit Selambau by-election opened relatively calmly on 29 March 2009, a schoolday and work day here in Kedah. Journalists and the candidates’ supporters started trickling into the nomination centre, Sekolah Menengah Teknik Sungai Petani 1, from 7am. There had been speculation that things could get chaotic, considering the Election Commission (EC) [...]

SUNGAI PETANI, 29 March 2009: The big number of independent candidates contesting in the Bukit Selambau by-election on 7 April is a manifestation of the uncertain political situation in Kedah, according to a political analyst. Dr Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Faruq, a political science lecturer at Universiti Sains Malaysia, said 13 independent candidates contesting against Barisan [...]