LAWYER-turned-politician Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim, 60, knows that politics can be a dirty game. He joined Umno and won the Kota Baru parliamentary seat in the 2004 general election. The party did not field him for the 2008 elections, however. After winning with a severely reduced majority, the ruling coalition under Prime Minister Tun Abdullah […]
Hulu Selangor
P Kamalanathan (Hulu Selangor)
HULU SELANGOR Member of Parliament (MP) P Kamalanathan’s response to the MP Watch: Eye on Parliament project, which asks all 222 MPs six questions. (source: parlimen.gov.my)Name: P KamalanathanConstituency: Hulu Selangor Party: MICYears as MP: Since 25 April 2010 (won through a by-election) Government position: None Party position: • MIC information chief Membership in parliamentary committees […]
UKM is “penalising” students
Letter to Prof Tan Sri Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) vice-chancellor Dear vice-chancellor, I am writing to you with regards to the persecution of four UKM students for taking part in the Hulu Selangor elections. Come 2 and 3 June 2010, the four will be charged under Section 15 of […]
Who supports Perkasa?
“It is necessary for the government to delay any allocation and approval of projects for the community. They show no appreciation to BN government’s efforts, even though the BN government had to hurt the feelings of the Malay [Malaysian] and the natives.” “All their demands are fulfilled by the government but they do not know […]
Reporting on Sibu
Investigating frontpage stories after the Sibu by-election… (© clarita | morguefile.com) (Corrected at 5.55pm, 18 May 2010) THE day after Sibu fell to the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in a closely-watched and fought by-election, what kind of frontpage stories greeted Malaysians in the press? With some newspapers relegating the news of the week to a second […]
Why freedom of expression?
(pic courtesy of theSun) WHEN Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak first came into office, he declared that under his administration, there would be greater freedom of expression and the press. Regrettably, “little concrete action has followed” his promise, according to an annual review of freedom of expression in Malaysia in 2009. Indeed, according to […]
Sibu – another referendum
DATUK Seri Najib Razak called the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election a referendum on his premiership. The justification was rather obvious as it was formerly a Barisan Nasional (BN) stronghold with an ethnic composition mirroring Peninsula Malaysia’s. The campaign was largely fought by Umno, even though the BN’s candidate was from MIC. Sibu has also been […]
Strengthening PKR
THE knives have been out for Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) since its candidate Datuk Zaid Ibrahim lost the Hulu Selangor by-election to the MIC’s P Kamalanathan. Analysis and commentaries have emerged calling PKR the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s “weakest link”. There have also been “unnamed sources” citing internal bickering, a weak election machinery, and lack of […]
Living 1Malaysia
Krishen Jit (© kyotoreviewsea.com) ON the Sunday morning of 25 April 2010, when Hulu Selangor voters were going to the polls, I was sitting in a Sikh gurdwara in Kuala Lumpur. It was the fifth death anniversary of a dear friend, Datuk Krishen Jit. His spouse, Datin Marion D’Cruz, had organised for prayers to be […]
BN victory or disaster in Hulu Selangor?
ONE of the best ways to understand the Hulu Selangor by-election is to look at the split-voting phenomenon. That happens when the same voter casts votes for different parties in simultaneous parliamentary and state elections. In 2008, due to the personality and ethnicity of the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate, MIC’s Datuk G Palanivel, BN suffered […]
