BN denied two-thirds majority - 2.42am 9th of March, malaysiankini mirror site
I did not have the honour of being born when our beautiful country achieved independence, but if i had to settle for second best, then I must thank God for letting me live long enough to witness this day.
Since the dialogue was about post election analyst I will try and share what I have learnt. Here are the factors, that in my opinion contributed to BN's poor performance. (I wouldn't exactly call it a defeat since they still have a simple majority needed to form the government) . In no particular order,
- Denial. Most Barisan candidates seem to have lived in a perpetual state of denial. They were completely detached from their constituencies, utterly out of touch with the electorate. People do not just wake up and suddenly decide that they are going to vote for the opposition, the anti-establishment sentiment had been brewing for quite sometime. The writing was on the wall, just by going to a roadside mamak or a quick search on the internet, the BN candidates would have been able to get a sense of the growing displeasure with the government. Instead they chose to buy in the reports of the mainstream media (which they happened to own) that all was well and an easy victory was in sight. Samy Vellu still refuses to acknowledge that he is largely responsible for MIC's failure.
- Threats. Remember the BN advertisements? They went along the lines of "Peace, stability and harmony" or something like that. From the subtle undertones of the language, it was quite obvious that they were trying to threaten us. If it wasn't clear enough, Badawi dispelled any doubts by singing along the tunes of "If your particular race doesn't vote for the government then you won't have any say in the next government" Sometimes the threats bordered on desperation, "vote for me or else..."
- Arrogance. I have heard of more than one occasion when a BN candidate has told potential voters that he has enough votes already, and that they need not vote for him if they don't want to. Gerakan started squabbling over the chief minister seat in Penang even before they had even won the election. Khir Toyo came up with his (in hindsight) absolutely ironic slogan "zero opposition". These are all symptoms of sheer arrogance. Here is a recount of what the BN candidate in my area (Kota Damansara) said during a dialogue with the friends of Kota Damansara community, Dato’ Zein kept emphasizing that he is to act for the party he represents (BN) and acts according to party’s instructions. When questioned as to why as a Wakil Raryat, he is not representing his people, he then emphasized that it is up to the residents to decide whether to vote for or against him and party. Either way, he accepts it. At this juncture, he challenged all the attendees to prove that we are registered voters in Kota Damansara constituency. When asked again on the issues faced by the residents, he said he would think about it later. He then left hurriedly without any conclusive comments. (source http://kd.communityforest.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=83&Itemid=2 or see the you tube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMS5XbtTeAs). This is the same guy who bragged in the newspapers that he likes to collect Rolex watches. As a politician one should at the very least have the courtesy to at least pretend to be humble. Congratulations to the keadilan candidates Sivarasa (Parliament) and Dr.Nasir (State) for being selected by the people of Subang and Kota Damansara to represent them in the government.
- The Anwar Ibrahim factor. Barisan National severely underestimated him, much to their detriment. Whether, you love him or hate him, the truth is that Anwar is the consummate politician, a political genius so to speak. If you watch CNN or read The Economist, you will quickly realise that he is revered by the western media in the same light as the likes Nelson Mandela or the Aung San Suu Kyi; he is regarded as the (former) prisoner of conscience of Malaysia. Anwar has been a very busy man after being released from prison; while BN spent their time squabbling over who should be the next chief minister of Penang, Anwar was touring the country organising the opposition war machine. Anwar is also the main link between DAP, PKR, and PAS.
- Failure of the mainstream media. The newspapers failed to provide the people with credible, balanced, neutral information. Most newspapers are largely owned by components of the Barisan National and most television networks are owned by Media Prima, which is largely controlled by BN. Even The Sun, arguably one of the more open newspapers in Malaysia, had to comply to the Internal Ministry's instructions to downplay "sensitive" issues in wake of the election after facing the threat of failing to renew its license. All major newspaper companies receive instructions from the Internal Ministry on how to handle "sensitive" issues, from how many pictures to put to how many pages to write. With over 30 acts governing the publishing industry, how can we really expect independent and truthful reporting? A media has the responsibility of disseminating information to the rakyat so that they can make informed choices and the people can make their grouses known by giving their feedback. This lack of a negative feedback system kept BN politicians in denial; everything was going well, landslide BN victory predicted the mainstream media. Conversely, I believe people started tuning out to the BN propaganda from the very beginning of the elections. I for one stopped reading the national news section around one month before the elections (i kinda new the elections were going to come out soon because not a single major crime was reported in the newspaper for a few weeks) . If one were to read the newspapers in the build up to the elections one would be forgiven for mistaking Malaysia as a utopia. George Orwell probably couldn't have done it better himself (if you don't understand go read 1984, although I personally prefer Aldous Huxley's Brave New World). Disgusted and jaded with the mainstream media, the people looked to alternative forms of media such as malaysiakini, blogs or even YouTube.
- Other factors. There were many other factors which contributed to BN's loss of the 2/3 majority. In point of fact, there was no single decisive factor, rather it was a culmination of factors which resulted in BN's comparatively dismal performance. Maybe if Badawi hadn't lied about when the parliament was going to be dissolved. Maybe if the Election Commission hadn't made a last minute decision to abandon the use of indelible ink. Maybe if Sharlinie hadn't been kidnapped. Maybe if oil prices (one of the main factors contributing to cost push inflation) hadn't risen. Maybe if the government hadn't demolished the Indian temple the day before Deepavali. Maybe if the government hadn't set the election just before Anwar Ibrahim would be eligible to participate in politics, thus denying him the chance to run for election. Maybe if Hisham had more self control and hadn't started waving his keris. Maybe if the government hadn't cut fuel subsidies. Maybe if Khairy hadn't been risen to the ranks of UMNO with such suspicious haste. Maybe if Badawi hadn't authorised the use of the ISA on the HINDRAF leaders. Maybe if the Lingam tape hadn't been exposed. Maybe if Zakaria hadn't built a huge mansion on low cost land for the poor. There were too many what ifs... in the end the people of Malaysia put two and two together and asked themselves "What if we had a better government?"
For all the calls of resignation and the nasty things that some people have said about Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, one most give him credit for paving to the way to a more accommodating democracy for malaysia. In fact, he should be commended for restoring some normalcy to Malaysian politics in the aftermath of the Mahathir era. A 60% majority in most countries would be considered a comfortable victory. Credit should also be given to the Elections Commission and the police force for handling the elections in a rather well and impartial manner. But most of all credit should be given to the rakyat, who turned out in record numbers on Saturday 8th of March 2008 to exercise their right to vote. Well done.
