Of Chua Soi Lek and his "stronghold" in Tenang

As the nomination of the Tenang by-election had just concluded, MCA and its party president Dr Chua Soi Lek fired their first salvo against the Pakatan's PAS candidate Normala Sudirman for her gloved hand shaking during her campaign rounds.

Well, BN has two kinds of campaign in the Tenang by-election. Umno is dispatched to most Malay kampungs telling the folks there that if PAS wins the by-election, it is DAP and the Chinese would be the most powerful influence over the constituency and PAS would only be a puppet, while MCA is dispatched into Chinese and urban areas telling the community on the fear of a possible Islamic state and the Taliban agenda should PAS were to win in this by-election.

Well, let us focus on Dr Chua's words - he told the press of the PAS candidate's "extremist" view because she wore gloves when shaking hands with the voters. Isn't that is her right of her religious practices and views? Does that represent any intention of PAS wanting to impose the Islamic state ruling in the Tenang constituency should the said Pakatan component party win?

Yeah, he just said that in the Chinese and urban areas during his campaign rounds. That is just one of the BN's split agenda. Umno with its own, while MCA with its own, just like we mentioned earlier.

So, what about Dr Chua's previous sexual fantasies? That is a moral issue too! If he said Normala shoke her hands in public in gloves, how is Dr Chua going to explain the showing of his "kuku bird" in public during his tenure as minister of health?

Come on, this is about election, and let us talk about achievements and getting results, as well as putting things to order. Why go after other people's personality.

We supposed BN has nothing else to say anymore in the campaign. It is just "development" and race, religion and "raja", while corruptions and mismanagements get the go ahead. It is all just BN is always "good" and "true" while what Pakatan Rakyat is doing are all lies and false.

We hope voters there would vote wisely in the upcoming by-election.

MIC's Mugilan top Umno choice for Hulu Selangor by election

MIC Youth deputy leader V. Mugilan is the top Umno choice as Barisan Nasional candidate for Hulu Selangor over his political mentor and party deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel.

Besides, Mugilan's faction in the MIC is also said to be working hand in hand with Umno in order to get the latter's assistance in lobbying at the top BN leadership level, thus sidelining the MIC deputy president Palanivel.

It looks like Palanivel himself often seen as a Samy Vellu shadow had been irrelevant within MIC itself. However, Palanivel is not giving up so easily. His faction who is closely aligned with Samy is quick to sought the party central committee's help to pressure the BN top leaders to move Mugilan aside to pave way for the MIC deputy president.

The factional lobbying ad infighting in the MIC between the pro-Umno and the pro-Samy ones are intensifying as the nomination day approaches.

What is Najib's choice now? An MIC top leader or its youth leader? What if Najib selects the MIC youth leader, thus, hurting the MIC leadership and what if Najib selects the MIC top leader instead and its youth leader decides to rebel in the party? And then Samy takes this opportunity to sack him?

Press banned from reporting Isa’s suspension

We were deliberately shock in disgrace to hear that the Chinese dailies had been instructed by the Home Ministry not to report on Tan Sri Isa Samad’s suspension from Umno ahead of the Bagan Pinang by-election.

What is this all about? Talking about "1Malaysia, Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan", and then doing some other things negatively from behind scene. This anti-democratic moves by the Home Ministry is clearly a violation of human rights, democratic principles and freedom of expression.

What if those Chinese dailies ignore the ban and choose to continue reporting on Isa Samad’s previous suspension from Umno due to money politics and corruptions in the party? Is the Home Ministry going to close down the press or what? Can anyone from the "police ministry" answer this please?

Talking in general, how on earth a tainted and corrupted leader be chosen to be a candidate for a by-election? If you give bribe to a civil servant to work on you favor or to gain something, you will be charge in the court of law and jailed.

And this former Negri Sembilan mentri besar had openly offered money to bribe the party delegates into electing him as party vice president and yet he was only suspended from Umno and not charged in the court of law.

That means, Umno is telling the people that this country had two sets of law where one applies only to Umno leaders while the other is for common people like us.

Therefore, by voting Umno’s Isa Samad into power again would mean voting to validate corruption, power abuses and money politics. These three negative elements will certainly destroy our nation’s prosperity and growth if Umno is allowed to continue to reign our nation.

Think seriously about it please!

PKR's Mansor won with 5,558 majority

Mansor Othman is on the way to become Penang's new Deputy Chief Minister after winning Penanti by bagging 6,052 votes. His nearest rival is a former Gerakan divisional leader Nai Khan, 494 votes, followed by Aminah, 392, and Kamarul, 56.

All the three independent candidates lost their deposits. Congratulations Mansor on your victory.

Penanti poll on 31 May

The Penanti by-election will be held on 31 May , the prime minister's department's Election Commission (EC) announced yesterday morning. This time the EC had given up hope and decided to set the polling on Sunday.

Despite so many attempts by EC to reduce voter turnout to favour the BN-Umno rulers in the previous by-elections, voters turnout seems to be increasing and so does the majorities won by Pakatan Rakyat candidates.

This shows the voters are more determine nowadays to ensure changes in our nation.

Dr M to lead Umno campaign in Penanti

We are so glad to hear that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad is willing to lead the Umno’s campaign machinery in the upcoming by-election in Penanti state constituency.

Let us all welcome him and his team to campaign for their Umno candidate and the results would be terrific and wonderful.

As reported in the Malaysiakini recently, Dr Mahathir had stated his willingness to lead the Umno campaign machinery to storm the PKR stronghold as part of his revenge against PKR Advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Dr Mahathir wanted to “finish off” Anwar once and for all via the Penanti by-election.

In order for him to seek revenge on Anwar, Dr Mahathir is now seems to be pressuring the current Umno president and prime minister Datuk Najib Razak have the party contest in the by-election. Earlier Najib had indicated that the party may not be contesting in the by-election citing wastage of party and government funds, added that the by-election was nothing but a PKR political ploy which the Umno should not be involved with.

While the Najib faction favours a no-contest in Penanti, the Mahathir faction is putting up its pressure onto the Najib faction to take up the contest at the state constituency which is pre-dominantly a Malay majority area.

Will the Najib faction bow to Mahathir’s pressure then? And if Najib were to bow to Mahathir, what will Najib be at the end? Looks like Mahathir is beginning to overshadowing Najib and is he willing to allow Mahathir to control his administration?

Read more in our Bahasa Malaysia version.

Umno can never learn

We just still cannot understand why BN-Umno still cannot realize and do not want to learn from their mistakes they had did and are still doing now.

In the case of Pakatan Rakyat, they did as per their principles and stand. Once they find they can no longer accept their elected representatives tainted with corruptions, they will remove them from office.

We see this as a noble thing to do as once you are perceived as tainted or corrupted, you will be always subject to threats and it will compromise your ethics and works. Apart from that, if you are tainted and corrupted, the institution that you are working for will also be affected as people may perceive the entire institution as tainted as well.

We all know that more people are getting tired with by-elections one after another but the people also knows that this is the right move to flush out all compromised representatives and leaders.

This is supposedly how our private sectors are doing it to their employees to ensure integrity of a company is not tarnished with such practices. And our country’s system should also be working in such manner to ensure integrity of public office is maintained.

From here, we could also see that Umno and its BN lackeys are still in denial mode. Their leaders, ministers, deputy ministers and mentris besar had been tainted and corrupted for decades and no one dare to take measures to remove them from office. And that is why the entire institution of the BN and Umno all over the nation completely tainted with corruptions, money politics, power abuses and a lot more.

And yet they still dare, shamelessly talk about other people who are out there doing their best to ensure their housekeeping is in order.

BN and Umno should look at themselves at the mirror first before they comment and condemn other parties for conducting their own clean up. In fact, BN and Umno themselves have been tainted for decades and they did not bother to ensure the integrity of their organizations are maintained but instead letting it spread from bad to worst in order to benefit and enrich their cronies and political allies.

Now, BN and Umno are complaining that they are running out of funds and money because of too many by-elections which they have to contest and blamed Pakatan Rakyat of playing politics in such way. If they are really short of funds or cash right now because of the previously several failed by-elections contests, then they should not contest in the upcoming by-election in the Penanti state constituency and let Pakatan Rakyat win unopposed. Don’t blame Pakatan Rakyat just because you cash and funds has been reduced.

BN and Umno should also realize that, knowing that they are going to lose most of the by-elections, they still stubbornly contested it and misused all the government machineries and funds to support them by providing the strongest ever resources to their candidates. Isn’t all these wastage of public funds and money?

And if BN and Umno were to realize their potential losses and mistakes earlier, they would have withdraw from most of the by-elections and avoid any further contests. With this, they will be able to help save billions of ringgit.

So, why blame Pakatan Rakyat for all your funds drained dry? BN-Umno should blame themselves and not Pakatan Rakyat and not the people for being “ungrateful”. Their mindsets, thinking and maturity are still behind time and they are almost outdated with no political wisdom at all.

It is a clear fact that BN and Umno are still in denial mode, they felt too hard and too difficult to change, to reform and diverse, and that is why they can never change at all.

Read more in our Bahasa Malaysia version.

Fairus resigns as Penanti assemblyman; by-election imminent

Former Penang deputy chief minister Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin yesterday resigned as Penanti state assemblyman, confirming weeks of speculation that a by-election for the Penanti state seat was likely.

In a press statement, Mohammad Fairus, 33, said he took this step to resign as a state representative to protect the interest of his party, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

The politician tendered his resignation as DCM I and state executive councillor effective April 8 and since then, PKR has yet to name a replacement.

Nik Aziz okays to Perak DAP secretary

The PAS Mursyidul Am and Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat gave his blessings to Perak DAP secretary Ngar Kor Ming who came under fire from Umno for reciting Quranic verses during the Bukit Gantang’s by-election campaign.

During a ceramah where Ngar spoke, some Quranic verses were recited in order to explain to the people on the current political situation in Perak. As the result, a pro-Umno NGO called the Malay Unity Action Force had lodged a police report against him by twisting the facts that Ngar had insulted the Quran.

This clearly shows the stupidity of Umno and its lackey Malay Unity Action Force in harping into such issue to gain political mileage and at the same time to provoke anger, hatred and revenge on Pakatan Rakyat. They tried to twist the facts and truth so the people would believe them.

Lucky for Pakatan Rakyat, the people understood the entire situation and voted for Datuk Nizar Jamaluddin by giving him an increased majority, thus sending him straight to the parliament. With the victory in Bukit Gantang, it also demonstrated that the people had rejected Umno’s coup d’etat which toppled the legitimate state government on last February.

BN and Umno badly defeated in two by-elections

We had seen recently that Pakatan Rakyat’s PKR and PAS candidates had handsomely won their respectively state and parliamentary seats with increased majorities despite open and continuous attacks by both BN and Umno to undermine the opposition coalition with negative reports and publicities.

Still Pakatan Rakyat overcame all these obstacles without any problems. In Bukit Selambau, PKR’s S.Manikumar won with 10,229 votes with a majority of 2,403 which was higher than 2,362 which they gained in last year’s general election. At Bukit Gantang, PAS won the seat in 2008 with a majority of 1,566 votes but this time round with Near Jamaluddin contesting, he gained with an increased majority of 2,789 votes where he garnered 21,860 votes.

It proves that the people of both constituencies had not forgiven BN and Umno yet for what they had done i.e. racism, violence, threat, ISA, corruption, money politics and a lot more.

In Perak’s Bukit Gantang, the result was very clear. The people openly demonstrated their dissatisfaction and rejected Umno’s coup d’etat on February which saw the legally elected state government has been undemocratically toppled and replaced with a rebel state government led by Umno.

It was a moral victory for Nizar who once lead the Pakatan Rakyat state government in Perak until four of its state assemblymen defected after being enticed by Umno who later capitalized the defection by seizing power by undemocratic means i.e. having called for an illegal state assembly sitting at the Perak Umno headquarters to pass a “no-confidence” motion to topple Nizar and his state government.

In this case, the Umno-led Perak rebel state government must accept their defeat and call for the dissolution of the state assembly to pave way for a new state election. First of all, will they dare to face the people again? Certainly not, they are too scared of the people’s power.

In Kedah’s Bukit Selambau, it has been clear despite so many attempts by BN-Umno to discredit Pakatan Rakyat with numerous publicities of “defection” of PKR members, Manikumar managed to overcome the attack by gaining a far more sounding majority.

The loss for the BN’s candidate from MIC also dealt another blow to its party president Samy Vellu who himself had lost his Sungai Siput parliamentary seat in last year’s general election.

The victories have brought to four by-elections wins by Pakatan Rakyat after the earlier victories in Permatang Pauh and Kuala Terengganu. It significantly shows that the Malaysians want to change irrespective of the new prime minister. The people still want change and they are stronger in their support for Pakatan Rakyat.

There is nothing else BN and Umno could do now. The people are fed up with their old style of conservative stories and politics, coupled with already widely known corruptions, money politics, supremacist ideas, violence, threats and racist politics.

What belittling Islam?

We heard that a police report has been made by the Malay Unity Action Force president Osman Abu Bakar who is also an Umno member, against Perak DAP Secretary Nga Kor Ming for belittling Islam in a ceramah at Changkat Jering, Perak.

We understood that Nga merely referred to some words in Surah Al-A’raf during his political ceramah. Nga referred to the Quranic verse as a guidance and example to inform the people on Pakatan Rakyat’s program for the people. What is wrong with that?

Let’s say if he were to recite the verse inaccurately, it does not mean he had insulted Islam or belittled Islam. He tried his best to recite the verse and he did not try his best to insult Islam. What Osman Abu Bakar claimed on his police report was definitely nonsense and he has being a radical racist narrow minded guy who only wanted to serve the interest of Umno and his own.

Osman is trying to politicize the Quranic verse in order to provoke racial tension and if this happens, Umno will have the opportunity to call in the security force to arrest these guy and that guy, and locking them up into ISA for “national security” reasons.

Even the Mursyidul Am of PAS and Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat had confirmed that there is nothing wrong if a non-Muslim were to recite a surah from the Quran, provided that he did not insult or criticize it. Did Nga insult or criticize Islam? No he didn’t at all. It was Osman who had in fact insulted Islam by politicizing it and brought the matter to the police for no reason.

What we could see here is Osman is trying to play with the religion in order to provoke racial and political tensions. This is clearly an Umno’s intention.

We still remember that an Umno leader from Penang had also belittled Buddhism by saying that Buddhism is a religion with a lower standing in this country. He is Shabudin Yahya, the Umno state assemblyman for Permatang Berangan. He said “this is something scary because Islam is seen as having a same standing as Buddhism which was founded by a man named Gautama Buddha”. This is clearly insulting Buddhism, because what he said really belittled Buddhism.

So, because of Umno supremacy, its party leader had the right to insult and belittle anyone they wish to but when someone tried to recite a Quranic verse because he made it as his guidance even if he is not a Muslim, Umno will definitely say this guy is insulting Islam. Is this fair?

Umno had nothng at all. They just like to instill hate, hate and nothing but hate.

PKR: Mass defections from Kedah PPP

The mass defections, which included People's Progressive Party Vice President V. Nagarajan, meant that PPP, a BN component party has lost almost its entire membership in Kedah.

This shows the BN and Umno no longer have its support from the Kedahans. The Kedah PPP are fed-up and had enough with Umno's supremacist and manipulation over the other BN component parties.

We wish to congratulate PKR Advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for his success in bringing down one of the BN component party in Kedah and brought them into our Pakatan Rakyat fold.

Our final countdown is 7 April. We wish Pakatan Rakyat's PKR candidate all the best in their by-election. May the victory be with us.

Bukit Gantang: Reject the Umno rebel state government in Perak

It will be a referendum in Perak. On 6 February 2009, Perak Umno launched a coup d’etat to topple the Perak state government which was elected by the people on 8 March 2008 general election last year.

After the legitimate state government was overthrown, a rebel state government was briefly established by Perak Umno to replace the former. After the Umno rebel state government came to power, the state legislative assembly was suspended from its proceedings with the help from the police and other security force. State assemblymen were barred from entering the state legislative building for fear of popular vote that will undermine the Umno rebel state government’s legitimacy.

Therefore, let us all show Umno how illegitimate and treason they are in Perak. Umno had recently killed democracy in Perak, denying the Perakians their rights, their choice of government and their right to speak up.

Let us all give our votes to Pakatan Rakyat candidate Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin of PAS in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary by-election on this 7 April.

Money politics continue in by-election campaigns

The nominations for the by-elections for Bukit Selambau in Kedah, Bukit Gantang in Perak and Batang Ai in Sarawak had started on 29 March with candidates from both Pakatan Rakyat, Barisan Nasional and the independents being endorsed for contest on 7 April.

And there comes money politics pouring in from BN and Umno election machineries with all sorts of promises and pledges to uphold the constituencies with developments, new roads, new lanes and “new state governments” as well.

BN and Umno campaign machineries, with the assistance of the federal government departments are doing all it can to trick and cheat the voters into believing in their promises and pledges. During the one week campaign grace period for these three constituencies, millions of Ringgit will be pouring in, thanks to Umno’s continuous practical money politics.

Besides, BN and Umno will also be working hand in hand with the election commission, the police and other federal government agencies to ensure that phantom voters will be safely ferried into these constituencies during the voting day on 7 April. Possible manipulated postal votes will also be on standby should the BN and Umno feel that the votes seen are not accounted on their side in a week’s time.

As such, Umno cannot eradicate money politics, as it has been in their roots ever since. The Bukit Mertajam Umno division chief had already said it during the party general assembly.

Pakatan Rakyat cannot but BN all can in Perak

The police on the instruction from the home affairs ministry had banned series of ceramahs in Bukit Gantang, Perak led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin.

But the police on the instruction from the home affairs ministry had allowed ceramahs by BN and Umno to be held all over Bukit Gantang in order for them to gear up for the by-election at the said parliamentary constituency.

Apart from that, BN and Umno were allowed to raise their party flags and election banners now while the Pakatan Rakyat parties are not allowed to do so. Wasn’t that supposed to be in the Elections Act stating that party flags and banners as well as campaigns are only allowed once the nomination takes place?

The Elections Commission (EC) also did not act against BN and Umno for putting up their party flags and banners prior to the nomination day. It has been clearly shown that the EC is truly a pro-BN as the entity is still under the jurisdiction of the prime minister’s department even though EC is a commission status and was supposed to be “responsible to the parliament”.

So, are the police and EC actually apolitical or should we call them the Umno police and the Umno EC?

7 April is the by-election date, a sabotage !

Well, the Elections Commission (EC) had today fixed the by-election dates for both DUN Bukit Selambau and Parlimen Bukit Gantang seats respectively.

It is believed that the by-election dates for these two constituencies are fixed on request of Umno via its federal government. Yes of course so because the EC comes under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department. The EC chairman and secretary reports directly to the prime minister.

First, the by-election dates were fixed on 7 April because on March, Umno will be having its party elections and general assembly. Therefore infighting and factional rivalries are expected to be tense on that month. Therefore, Umno did not want its election to be concurrently held with the by-elections for fear of its own factional rift.

Second, the by-election dates were fixed on 7 April is also a working day. With this move, Umno is hoping to be able to prevent more voter turn out expected from those of Pakatan Rakyat supporters in order to try to gather their numbers to win them.

Third, by having the two by-elections on 7 April, Umno is hoping to gain some mileage by intensifying its media campaign onslaught against the Pakatan Rakyat a little more longer time frame.

So, this is the Umno-EC pact which aimed to sabotage the smooth democratic process of both by-elections.

Upcoming By-elections: Non-Malay votes could swing

With the dust barely settled on the Kuala Terengganu by-election last month, the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition is thrown into two more by-elections in which many unresolved controversies are likely to hold sway. The sudden by-elections in Perak and Kedah will take place in two seats that have a significant non-Malay voter base.

“The non-Malay votes will play a decisive role in these two by-elections,” said electoral analyst Ong Kian Ming. That is not good news for the BN.

Through regular surveys, it would appear that while the Malay support for BN may have held since the March general election last year, the non-Malay support has fallen.

If it had its way, the BN will not want to face voters at a time when pro-opposition sentiment is boiling over. But it has no choice, as the law requires that the by-elections be held within 60 days of the seat becoming vacant.

The Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat in Perak fell vacant when the Pas MP Roslan Shaharum died suddenly of a heart attack on Monday.

The Bukit Selambau state seat in Kedah was vacated when its PKR assemblyman V. Arumugam reportedly quit over claims that he was being pressured to defect. He is still missing but Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Azizan Abdul Razak has announced his resignation. So far, there is no word to the contrary.

Allegations have surfaced that Arumugam had married a second wife in contravention of the law. The PKR has claimed that he married her only through religious rites, and did not register it. He is still legally married to his first wife.

Although in different states, both seats have significant numbers of non-Malay voters, making it very hard for the BN to wrest them away.

“The mood of the day is against the status quo, especially among the non-Malay voters and the young,” said Professor Agus Yusoff, a political analyst.

The voter breakdown for the Perak parliamentary seat is 63.5 per cent Malay, 27.1 per cent Chinese and 9.1 per cent Indian. For the Kedah state seat, it is 50.2 per cent Malay, 19.3 per cent Chinese and 29.5 per cent Indian.

Ong's study showed that about 53 per cent of the Malays voted for BN in Bukit Gantang last March. Only about 35 per cent of non-Malays did so, sharply down from the 85 per cent in 2004.

As for the Kedah seat, the Malay support for the BN was a high 63 per cent, with the non-Malay vote at a low 26 per cent, according to the study.

The non-Malay vote had plummeted in March last year because of resentment over the heightening race rhetoric at that time.

The situation has not improved much. “Umno didn't change, it didn't come clean on issues, or deliver on promises to change,” said Agus.

Two major controversies that have special resonance for the minority communities, are still raging.

The first is the BN-Umno seizure of the Perak state government last week. It angered many voters, and will become the biggest issue in the Bukit Gantang by-election.

The Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition may take full advantage of this by fielding former Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin as a candidate.

“I believe Nizar is a symbolic figure in view of the present circumstances,” said Perak DAP chairman Ngeh Koo Ham.

Nizar was popular among the non-Malays, and his move to approve permanent land leases for Chinese new villages and vernacular schools was hailed. There is concern now among villagers whether the BN government will continue this policy.

The new BN Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir has said it was too early to decide.
The non-Malay votes in Perak will be very difficult for the BN. This is clear from the response to the defecting Chinese assemblyman Hee Yit Fong. The locals were so enraged that her family is taking the brunt of their anger.

In Kedah, the major issue that will play among the non-Malay voters, especially the Indians, is the perception of continued marginalisation of the community. This had lost the BN most of their Indian support last March.

The BN is likely to be further hobbled by a MIC candidate. The party is hugely unpopular with the Indian community.

As a result, analysts believe BN's strongest voter bank in both seats will be the Malay votes. In Perak, Umno still has a fairly strong standing in the community. Of the 28 BN assemblymen, 27 are from Umno.

“The Malay vote is fairly status quo, but the young voters may be different. They may swing away,” said Agus.

The Malay dissatisfaction over the perception of their diminishing political clout, especially in Perak where their numbers form less than half the population, could also come into play. But it will be hard work for the BN - Agencies.

Umno’s reign of terror

After its refusal to accept the people’s verdict in the 2008 general elections, the Barisan Nasional (BN) with its dominant party Umno taking charge of the opposition in Perak state had tried to stage a comeback one month after the general elections last year by trying to destabilize the newly formed Perak state government.

Much negative publicities and racist-like sentiments were played around the state to provoke the people’s anger on the new state government with false reports and allegations being rumor all over the state thinking that the people may come up in full force to topple the state government and then BN together with Umno will come up to take over the helm.

But it never happen at all as the people are fed up with the BN and Umno politicking aiming at destabilizing the state for good for their own political agenda.

Then one of Umno state assemblyman defected to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) recently with thousand of its supporters crossing over as well further angered Umno leaders into launching its second coup attempt to topple the Pakatan Rakyat led state government.

This time around, the Umno president-elect Datuk Najib Razak is leading the charge after taking up the Perak Umno state liaison chief post following the resignation of the then state chief Datuk Mohamad Tajol Rosli because of his failure to prevent one of its state assemblyman from defecting.

With Najib at helm of Perak Umno leadership, he is look set to bring about more instability in the Pakatan Rakyat state government in even a harsher way. To openly activate money politics in public in order to entice some of the state assemblymen to defect over to the BN fold. By carrying out such measures, BN and Umno is hoping to launch a second and final onslaught to retake the Perak state government as soon as possible in order to boost the moral if Umno local leaders and members who were very much demoralized by its general elections defeat and the party’s factional infightings as well.

Looks like, a possibility of an Umno coup is ongoing. Tons of money bags were brought in from an unnamed federal government source of which the local political source believed that these cash are to be used to entice the Pakatan Rakyat leaders into defecting. BN and Umno owned media and press are also stepping up their propaganda efforts to attack the Perak state government from all corner with negative reports to tarnish the reputations of the present administration.

Should Umno successfully destabilize the entire Perak state, the state government had no other choice but to call for a fresh election to bring about a fresh and stronger mandate. With Umno’s doing, corruptions, arrogance and immoral tactics being widely known to the general public, will the people ever vote for BN-Umno again if a fresh state elections is called?

Polling day at Kuala Terengganu

Today is the polling day for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary constituency. High voter turnout is expected today based on efforts from both Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional to voo the voters and those staying outstation to return home to vote.

The battle between PAS and Umno is seem to be a tough one as both candidates had also proven their potentials in their campaign rounds and commitments as well.

Despite PAS and Pakatan Rakyat were dealed with a heavy blow from the BN controlled mainstream medias and newspapers, comments from the grounds had predicted a good chance for PAS. Some analyst like Ong Kian Ming had even went as far to predict PAS' victory at about 7000 vote majority this time.

Well, right now, no one knows yet on the outcome. We will have to wait till the polling stations close this evening and when counting begins then. We have to admit that this is surely a tough fight. Will the voters choose to continue the previous political tsunami?

DAP request KT voters to support Pakatan economic plan

On the eve of the crucial Kuala Terengganu by-elections, the DAP has openly asked Kuala Terengganu voters to support Pakatan Rakyat's RM50 billion economic stimulus package and for petrol prices at RM1.20 a litre.

Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said today the Kuala Terengganu by-election on Saturday will be "a good indicator to gauge the people's support, especially from the Malays" to determine the national agenda.

Throwing support behind Pas candidate Abdul Wahid Endut, Lim said lower petrol prices was feasible as global crude prices have dropped below US$35 a barrel, similar to global prices on Oct 1, 2000 when Malaysian pump price was RM1.20 a litre.

"It is only fair that the government further reduce the price of petrol by 60 cents from the present RM 1.80 per litre to reflect the current market price," said Lim, who is also the Bagan Member of Parliament.

He also called on the people to support the electoral pact's RM50 billion economic package "to save Malaysian jobs and businesses that Malaysians can see, touch and feel the difference".
The economic package, which Lim had announced before, includes a RM6,000 annual oil bonus for families earning less than RM 6,000 a month or RM 3,000 annual bonus to bachelors earning less than RM 3,000 a month which will only cost RM35 billion.

He also proposed a progressive reduction of corporate tax from the present 25 percent to 17 percent which will cost RM 13 billion, a daily revision of petrol pump prices linked to changes in global prices and immediate cuts in gas prices as well as electricity tariffs.

Lim also promised an additional RM 2 billion wireless project "so that as many Malaysians as possible can be connected to the Internet" - Malaysian Insider.