PETALING JAYA, 23 April 2009: The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) slammed the Election Commission (EC) chairperson Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof for his pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) behaviour recently. Abdul Aziz (Source: mycio.mampu.gov.my) Bersih said Abdul Aziz should resign if he continues to act like a “BN election agent” in a press […]
Wong Chin Huat
Government vs Mafia
By Wong Chin HuatWE are now told by the new Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that by-elections are bad because they distract us from dealing with the economic crisis. Tunku Abdul Rahman (Public domain)This aversion towards elections is nothing new to Malaysia. In the spirit of learning our national history, let’s revisit some past decisions made by […]
Beyond a shadow of doubt
By Zedeck SiewTHE Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s plan to set up special panels to “shadow” each of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s cabinet ministries has stirred up debate over whether such a move would serve a real purpose. This arrangement appears superficially similar to the idea of an opposition shadow government that certain quarters have been clamouring for the […]
PKR’s moment of truth
By Wong Chin HuatPARTI Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) will face its moment of truth tomorrow, 15 April 2009. The party will decide whether it will accept Selangor executive councillor (exco) Elizabeth Wong‘s offer of resignation following the distribution of intimate photos of her. Wong has done the honourable thing by offering her party a choice about whether to retain […]
From Gantang Hill to mountain
By Wong Chin HuatCorrected on 9 April 2009 at 12.05pm IT is furthest from the truth to declare that the results of the triple by-elections on 7 April 2009 are about the status quo being maintained. Such an analysis, which focuses only on the number of seats each political party has, would fail to see the forest for […]
All about Najib
Translation by Leong Lai MingFOR the week of 30 March to 5 April 2009, the Chinese media continued to highlight the election campaigns of the three by-elections slated for 7 April. In the same week, Malaysia also witnessed history when Datuk Seri Najib Razak was made Malaysia’s sixth prime minister. In Oriental Daily on 2 April, writer Lin Feng examined […]
The last Rajah’s battlefield
By Wong Chin HuatPolice on guard during the Ijok by-election (pic by Danny Lim) THE 7 April Batang Ai by-election actually has more similarities with the 2007 by-election for the Selangor state seat of Ijok than to the other two by-elections in Bukit Gantang and Bukit Serambau that will happen on the same day. Batang Ai is certainly […]
A referendum on our future
By Wong Chin HuatTHE Bukit Gantang by-election has one overriding meaning. The by-election for this parliamentary seat in Perak is not about local development, as the Barisan Nasional (BN) would describe it. Neither will the election results determine Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s job as prime minister, as some opposition supporters would hope for. Voters in Bukit Gantang will […]
Umno’s unholy trinity
By Wong Chin HuatCorrected 12.15pm on 9 April 2009 MANY Umno leaders and analysts are talking about corruption in the party as if that is its biggest problem. After all, it was the justification used in barring party vice-president Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam from contesting for the party’s No. 2 post. And as Ali’s supporters have persuasively […]
Walking the middle ground
By Wong Chin HuatMANY Malaysians might say that if there is anything we need more than jobs in these times of economic hardship, it is stability. You read an increasing number of comments that urge people to get priorities right — get more jobs or prevent job cuts — regardless of the issue being discussed. And how would […]
