PETALING JAYA: 1 June 2009: Increased police presence during the by-elections since the March 2008 general election is both unnecessary and wasteful, the National Institute for Electoral Integrity (NIEI) said. NIEI executive director Amin Iskandar said the trend of deploying large numbers of police officers to a by-election only appeared to begin after the general [...]

IT has been nearly a week of campaigning here in Penanti, and the by-election still seems skimpy on issues. True, all the candidates have revealed their “manifestos”, but none of them seem to be too specific. Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidate Dr Mansor Othman has been the most strategic in releasing his manifesto, charter and [...]

‘TIS the season for by-elections, or so it must feel to Malaysians, who have been subject to six — Permatang Pauh, Kuala Terengganu, Batang Ai, Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau, and now Penanti — since the general election in March 2008. And now, we stand on the brink of yet another one — in Manik Urai, Kelantan. [...]

DURING the March 2008 general election, election campaign posters for Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) parliamentary candidate Nurul Izzah Anwar showed her smiling. Wreathed in a glowing aura, she seemed to be gazing into a bright Malaysian future. Now the parliamentarian for Lembah Pantai, she is still seen as a poster-child for Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s younger [...]

“Ministers and functionaries, people connected to the government, they’re doing their job.” THEN-Election Commission (EC) chairperson Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, shortly after the 2007 Machap by-election. He was commenting on the morality of development promises by Barisan Nasional (BN)-aligned government officials to voters before the polls. Abdul Rashid said that allocations, given out [...]

KUALA LUMPUR, 25 March 2009: An Umno Youth delegate wants the party to lift the suspension of former Bukit Bendera division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail who was penalised for making racist remarks. Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said, a delegate from Permatang Pauh, said this during the debate session of the Youth wing’s general assembly today. Mohd [...]