If there were anything more absurd coming from the EC, this one takes the top prize for the biggest and stinkiest stinker of all times. Where were all the legal experts and the AG ? Were they sleeping on the job and woke up only 5 days before polling day and realized the indelible ink could become their No.1 enemy. It takes a moron to believe in this concocted story and takes an even bigger moron to think all morons buy the story.
Legal implications ! My foot ! Didn't the EC seeks legal advice before they decide to introduce it ?
Read the story.
Election 2008: It's ink in the face for EC PUTRAJAYA: The Election Commission yesterday came under fire from most political parties for its decision not to use indelible ink to prevent multiple voting this general election.
Breaking News: Splattering red paint over somebody's house is no laughing matter. Some very unhappy people have decided the EC Chairman actually needs indelible red paint for his house.
Michael Backman is a well-known and respected business and political writer in this region and elsewhere.He regularly writes for the Age, an Australian newspaper and have written many articles on politics in Malaysia.
I produce below a recent article on Malaysian politics.
Yes, no, maybe? Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has called elections for March 8.
Michael Backman
February 27, 2008
Page 1 of 2
SHOULD Malaysians bother to vote? The corollary of this question is: does the Malaysian Government deserve to be re-elected? The answer to the second question is no.
In the past few years, the Malaysian Government has presided over an extraordinary number of scandals that are appalling by any standards: the trade minister's allocation of car import permits to friends, relatives and supporters; the billion-dollar fraud at the Port Klang Free Trade Zone; the outrageous and much-flaunted wealth of ruling party politician Zakaria Md Deros; the claims that a High Court judge allowed the lawyer representing a rich businessman to write for him his judgement in a defamation lawsuit; an immensely rich chief minister in Sarawak state who is allowed to rule as if it were his; and so on.
The Malaysian Government richly deserves to pay for all of this at the ballot box.
So the next question is: should the Malaysian Opposition be elected to office? Again, the answer is no.
The Opposition is a shambolic assortment of the disaffected rather than a competent, alternative government. In no way is it ready to govern.
All these questions are pertinent because Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has called elections for March 8.
Elections are fought tenaciously in Malaysia as if the South-East Asian country is a fully fledged democracy. But it isn't. It is democratic in that elections are held, but they are not fair. The ruling coalition has been in power in one form or another since independence 50 years ago. One reason for this longevity is that there are legal and institutional biases that favour the Government.
Malaysian electorates are severely malapportioned. The smallest electorates are rural; the largest are metropolitan. The largest have about six times the number of registered voters as the smallest. This means that the votes of those in the smallest seats count for many times those in the larger seats.
This sort of bias meant, for example, that in the last general elections held in 2004, the ruling coalition won 198 or 91% of the parliamentary seats with just 64% of the votes cast. The Opposition won only 21 seats or 9.6% of the seats compared with 36% of the popular vote.
Had the Parliament reflected voters' actual voting intentions, there would have been 79 rather than 21 Opposition members elected. Read more.....
Come March 8th cast your vote wisely.Do not vote any appositions or BN candidates whom you think are not likely to serve the people and the nation. Don't vote on party line, vote individuals, irrespective of which party they are from and those who are likely to bring benefical changes to the people and the nation.
You can rock the boat but make sure it doesn't sink, the rescue boat may also be leaking. So cast your vote wisely.
DENY THEM THE 2/3 MAJORITY.
Below is my reply to a very unhappy visitor, who chose to use foul language, to what I have written above. A hardcore supporter of the oppositions who could not tolerate differences of opinion and think it is supporter like him that going to bring victory to the oppositions.
anonymous,
We all are entitled to our own opinion and we can choose any leaders we like.
Let me explain my stand.
I am not ready to change the whole government.I just want a strong opposition to keep the government in check and the only way is to deny them the 2/3 majority.
Without 2/3 they can't change the constitution, they can't pass new legislations and they can't do many things that they can do in the past.
The present oppositions is not a cohesive group to be able to form a stable government.PAS,PKR and DAP all have different philosophies and none can be expected to get a clear majority to be a senior partner in a coalition.It will be a hung parliament which you, I and every Malaysians will not wish for, if you understand the repercussions.
There is nothing worse than a government that can't function because of internal strife and infighting.
I also don't believe corruptions will stop with a new government, it could get worse.We can only try to lessen corruption, it is not possible to wipe out this evil weed completely.
I also don't buy the oppositions claims and promises of better days for all Malaysians if they take over the running of this country.
You don't have to agree with me, you should vote who you are comfortable with, it's your right and your business, nobody can stop you from doing so.
I have the right to express my opinion, if you don't agree, fine, it's no skin off my nose.
Cybertrooper ! I am certainly not.I wish I am, at least I get paid.
I am like you, I have an opinion.
Now, you tell me why you think a new government is better?
Keningau: Parti Keadilan Rakyat Vice-President Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan (pic) urged the electorate in Sabah to make a brave decision by voting for all PKR candidates to "stop the rot in Sabah."
Jeffrey who is contesting the State seat of Bingkor and Parliamentary seat of Keningau told a gathering of more than 1,000 people that they must reject BN leaders for turning Sabah into the poorest State despite being rich in natural resources.
He said by allowing the prices of petrol and essential goods to go up, the government had caused suffering among the people.
"Sabahans must reject all BN candidates for creating a mess in Sabah, for making the natives even more poorer by driving them out of the land they have been occupying for generations and for allowing foreigners into the country without travel documents," he said.
In responding to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman's comments that the PKR's promises in its manifesto are unrealistic and absurd, Jeffery said it is not difficult to reduce the prices of essential goods in Sabah.
He pointed out that the root of the problem is the withdrawal of the subsidy on petrol.
Jeffery said a PKR Federal Government will use part of the huge profit of Petronas estimated to be between RM65 billion and RM100 billion due to the current high price oil in the international market.
"Why can't the Government ask Petronas to use RM10 billion a year to subsidise petroleum to help all Malaysians reduce costs in doing their business and also to help the poor alleviate their daily financial hardship instead of keeping the money.
"In this way, the country will be more attractive to foreign investors, thus creating more job opportunities for Malaysians," he added.
Jeffery said the government effected the withdrawal of the subsidy on petrol throughout Malaysia with a promise to use the money saved to improve roads in the rural areas of Sabah and Sarawak but like other promises, this was not fulfilled.
Jeffery claimed the PKR was contesting 55 seats because it realised that the people genuinely wanted to change the State Government.
