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Aliran Monthly : Vol.33(3) Page 1 For Justice, Freedom & Solidarity PP3739/12/2012(031205) ISSN 0127 - 5127 RM4.00 2013:Vol.33No.3 ELECTION FOCUS GE13 outcome: A people’s victory We should not just look at GE13's formal outcome but view it as a continuing process of democratisation, says Johan Saravanamuttu.

ne should first pose the OO question, what sort of OOO ‘victory’ was the out- come of GE13 on 5 May 2013 for the (BN) and then ask whether it was truly a defeat for the Pakatan Rayat(PR).

Many have raised the point of how the BN could be said to have won the election with only 47 per cent of the popular votes, while the PR went well past 50 per cent, customarily thought to be a marker of victory in most contests (See Table 3). However, electoral systems are often designed to give a clear majority of seats to the eventual winner thereby distort- Malapportionment: ing the result in terms of the popu- No. of Voters in BN and PR Seats, GE13 2013 lar vote.

Malaysia’s first-past-the-post (FPTP) system is particularly no- torious for immense distortions of this sort. In the 1969 election, the Alliance collected only about 45 Average Contituency Size, PR:77,655 per cent of the popular vote but attained a simple majority in par- Average Contituency Size, BN:46,510 liament, winning 55 per cent of the 140 seats [1]. The 2013 out- come is quite similar. The BN has won about 47 per cent of the popu- lar vote but has garnered 60 per Figure 11Figure

Aliran Monthly : Vol.33(3) Page 2 EDITOR'S NOTE

What an election it was. A majority of clearly wanted change. We must not just look at the CONTENTS formal outcome of the election but view it as a con- tinuing process of democratisation, says Johan Saravanamuttu in our cover story. COVER STORY ••• GE13 Outcome: A People's Victory 222 Certainly, the Malaysian people are already the win- ••• GE13: We Are Already The ners – even if electoral victory for their preferred Winners!Winners!Winners! 888 political party is usurped through a flawed elec- ••• Whither Neo-Feudalism? 999 toral system, says M M Pereira. In fact, the rakyat ••• Election In Sibu 111111 can take comfort that the process of change is now •• Election In Sibu 1111 firmly in place, asserts Henry Loh. There was no ••• GE13: Pliant Papers, betrayal by Chinese Malaysians either as no one Restless Hearts 131313 promised the BN their votes ahead of the polls, says ••• Malay Hesitation To Regime P Ramakrishnan. ChangeChangeChange 161616 ••• GE13: The Aftermath 181818 The electoral results show that a bold trend among ••• What Betrayal? 191919 young Malay voters – there is a break from the neo- ••• Musings On GE13 212121 feudal mindset of ‘hutang budi’ that once gripped ••• No Sobriety Or Sanity In the Malay community, says Azmil Tayeb. Former Judge's Statement 242424 Jeyakumar Devaraj adds that if we want to bring ••• Electoral Fraud: The View From about change, we also have to be sensitive to the Sungai Siput 262626 anxieties of the Malay community regarding what ••• Election Fraud Check: ‘change’ would entail. Borang 13 And Borang 14 282828 ••• An Implosion In The Offing! 404040 In another article, Jeyakumar lists his observations of the election campaign in Sungai Siput while REGULARS Prema Devaraj explains some of the checks and ••• Current Concerns 353535 forms used to reduce electoral fraud on polling day.

Putting the spotlight on Sibu, Ngu Ik Tien finds that the politics of patronage and campaign propaganda have lost their hold on many urban voters.

The big question now is can the BN evolve to retain 47 per cent of the popular vote in the next round. But if it fails to come up with a clear and clean aspi- ration, then the BN could be on its last legs, says Published by Haridas. Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara (ALIRAN)(ALIRAN)(ALIRAN) Aliran i