PP3739/12/2004 ISSN 0127 - 5127 / RM3.00 / 2004:Vol.24No.3

UnderstandingUnderstandingUnderstanding thethethe 200420042004 ElectionElectionElection

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 1 COVER STORY A Brave New World? Worrying implications for democracy by Philip Khoo

on’t be so ulu” was once “D“D“D the phobia of cultured Malaysians. Some time in the course of the 1990s and especially since the turn of the millennium, the ultimate fear factor became to be “third world”, as we dreamt of Vision 2020 and of a developed, “first world” Ma- laysia. Recall the number of times in the recent past we have been exhorted not to be, oh, so “third world”.

Unfortunately, this peculiarly Malaysian “fear factor” became painful reality on 21 March – and yet another institution bit the dust on our way to a promised brave new Malaysia.

Despite numerous complaints and the evident biases of the elec- toral process, never before had the Election Commission’s oversight of elections themselves and the ac- tual act of polling been so tar- nished as to bring into question the validity of the elections. Com- plaints related more to the length of the campaign period, the bias of the media, the use of govern- ment machinery, and just plain money politics.

Even in 1999, at a time of great upheaval and uncertainty, the ac- tual polling process itself was not seriously doubted, bar an in- stance here and there.

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 2 EDITOR'S NOTE

This is a special issue on the 2004 General Election. In the lead story, Philip Khoo probes how a brave CONTENTS new era of accountability and of ëxcellence, glory and distinction” is to be achieved when the BN so overwhelmingly dominates Parliament. Where is the ELECTION SPECIAL counterweight? ••• A Brave New World 222 ••• Understanding The 2004 The back cover story by Wong Kok Keong discusses the Pak Lah factor, the carefully cultivated image of Election Results 888 a caring and concerned leader. While agreeing that ••• An Election Day Under the Pak Lah factor is significant, Francis Loh re- Guardian Angels 131313 minds us of the Mahathir legacy of coercive laws, a ••• All That Glitters Is Not Gold 151515 compromised SPR and the courts as well as developmentalism. ••• An Open Letter To Prime Minister 191919 ••• From The Back Seat Of The This election was marred by numerous irregulari- Calon's Car 212121 ties and even disorder. Ramdas Tikamdas scruti- ••• “Witch-Hunting”: nises the flawed performance of the SPR. Un-Democratic Behaviour 242424 G Lim discusses the elections in Sabah, which the ••• Retaining The State Seat Of BN won hands down. A Semenanjung-style of coa- Machang Bubuk 262626 lition politics dominated by UMNO has replaced ••• Back To The Future? 292929 the frequent changes in government of the past. ••• Views From The Public 313131 Raja Petra Kamarudin says Keadilan has to do more ••• The Pak Lah Factor 404040 than just dream if it wants to achieve its ambition of coming into power. REGULARS Toh Kin Woon shares insights on why he succeeded ••• Current Concerns 343434 in retaining his Machang Bubuk seat under a BN ticket. On the other hand, Passenger shares her bit- OTHERSOTHERSOTHERS ter-sweet campaign experiences for the opposition ••• Subscription Form 181818 in the much-watched Sungai Siput contest.

In the aftermath of the election, Charles Hector re- minds us that elected representatives should remem- ber that they now represent all Malaysians. Andrew Aeria, touched by the love between the PM and his wife, Endon, calls on him to think also of the spouses Published by of those still detained or jailed. Aliran Kesedaran Negara (ALIRAN) 103, Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong, ALIRANALIRANALIRAN is a Reform Movement dedicated to Penang, Malaysia. Justice, Freedom & Solidarity and listed on the Tel : (04) 658 5251 Fax : (04) 658 5197 roster of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Founded in 1977, Aliran welcomes Homepage : http://www.aliran.com all Malaysians above 21 to be members. Contact the Hon. Secretary or visit our webpage. Printed by Percetakan Tujuh Lapan Enam Sdn. Bhd. No. 16, Lengkangan Brunei, 55100 Pudu, Kuala Lumpur.

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 3 Unlike the situation in tin-pot dic- “developed” status. More, they tatorships, at no time in the past undermine a fundamental key to fifty years have Malaysian elec- long-term political stability and tions looked as bad as they did peace. this time around, a time when the outcome was never in doubt, Up till now, and despite its nu- whatever the speculation about merous, even justified, complains, the extent of the ruling party’s vic- the political opposition in this tory. Previously, a case could be country has believed in elections made against the Election Com- and has participated in them with mission’s bias in constituency de- much vigour, if with relatively lit- lineations, its inefficiency in voter tle success. Any serious under- registration, its favouring the rul- mining of this faith sows the ing party in setting the length of seeds of instability. the campaign period, and the per- sonal biases on the part of polling It matters little that it may serve officers. However, there was little the interests of some of the lead- questioning of the Election Com- ers of the opposition parties to mission’s conduct of the elections claim electoral fraud. What mat- itself. This time around the Elec- Constituted as a rubber stamp? ters is that enough happened to tions Commission looked more voting hours in one state, with lend such claims a measure of like a partisan participant than a at least one instance where a credibility. neutral referee. chief polling officer was threat- ened by a police officer for re- A Brave New World… Just consider some of the incon- fusing to break the seals of Going Where? trovertible facts: sealed ballot boxes without clear instructions from the Turning to the outcome, 80 per • three sets of electoral rolls were Election Commission; cent of the electorate turned out delivered, with names and vot- and delivered over 90 per cent of ing locations differently as- • the results posted on the Elec- the seats to the ruling party. signed, available in one and tion Commission’s website in- missing in another, with dead dicating that thousands of bal- Such results, in most other con- persons such as the late James lot papers had been issued but texts, would be greeted with a Puthucheary on them, with not returned, that different knowing snigger. Here, it was persons who claimed never to numbers of ballot papers had hailed as a glorious victory, a vin- have registered on them, with been issued for a state seat and dication of our democratic proc- up to over a hundred voters lo- the parliamentary seat within ess – and not only by local pun- cated at a single address, etc. which it was located, and then dits, but by the “western” media. Indeed, in at least one voting the “correction” of these re- district (daerah mengundi) ad- sults without so much as an Shouldn’t there have been some dresses with 10 or more voters explanation. It was likely that discussion of a system that deliv- accounted for one-quarter of the discrepancies were largely ers such results, a system in the total electorate; clerical errors; however, results which a party garners 64 per cent on official sites cannot be of the popular vote, but over 90 • a last minute abrogation of its changed without acknowl- per cent of the seats? own rules disallowing “can- edgement and explanation. vassing” booths, after it was But most emblematic, perhaps, evident that the ruling party Sadly, these incontrovertible facts was the vote in the national capi- had constructed such booths; undermine the legitimacy of a key tal, Putrajaya, with a turnout of institution in a democracy, par- over 95% with 99% of the vote go- • the last minute extension of ticularly one with aspirations to ing to the candidate from the rul-

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 4 ing party.

It used to be that a result such as Putrajaya’s could only happen with postal ballots under circum- stances that hardly allowed for voluntary consent.

Yet, perhaps the voters of Putrajaya, mostly civil servants, understood that discretion was the better part of valour – an un- derstanding more than amply “justified” by the current un- seemly purge in Terengganu. No one, with any personal knowl- edge of civil servants, would be- lieve that their voting behaviour represented their sentiments – an outcome of 70-30 in favour of the ruling party, perhaps, but 99-1? tion by an astute correspondent ously, we accepted that parlia- to MalaysiaKini that the cabinet ment was in fact a rubber stamp The voting behaviour of the citi- comprises about half of the Mem- for the executive. However, with zens of our brave new capital does bers of Parliament. the new regime, parliament has not provide much grounds for been constituted as a rubber optimism in our march to devel- In our parliamentary system, there stamp to the executive: every min- oped status. isn’t an unambiguous divide be- ister, deputy minister and parlia- tween executive and legislative, mentary secretary is duty bound In the developed understanding since the members of the execu- to go along with the decisions of of a democracy, civil servants do tive are selected from among the the executive of which he or she is not have to be political soul mates members of the legislative. Still, a part. or lackeys of the party in power. there is a division of functions, In normal circumstances, they with the legislative available, in Moreover, at a time when there simply have to serve the govern- principle, to provide some coun- have been unannounced cut- ment of the day, regardless of their ter-weight to the executive. A back- backs in both education and own political inclinations. In ab- bench revolt is, in principle, a pos- health, this exorbitantly large cabi- normal circumstances, the public sibility. net will cost the country at least expects them to serve a higher RM1 million a month in salaries ethic of legality and accountabil- But when half of the ruling par- alone. ity, and to turn “whistle-blower” ty’s members of parliament are if the need should arise as in cases also in the executive, and the rul- Further, some of the division of of clear corruption or illegality. ing party has over 90 per cent of functions and the appointments, the members of the parliament, as well as some events since pro- There are yet other grounds for there is obviously no way that the vide yet more foreboding. Take the dis-ease. legislative can act as a counter- re-organisation of the ministry of weight to the executive. science, technology and environ- Sufficient disappointment has ment and the ministry of primary been expressed with the new cabi- This further bodes ill for the prom- industries. net. ised entry into a brave new era of accountability and of “excellence, Is it an accident that both the min- More interesting is the observa- glory and distinction”. Previ- ister for natural resources and the

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 5 environment and the minister for era of a gentler, kinder, more com- Penang voted at well below that plantation industries and com- passionate, and more accountable average. modities are held by Sarawak government of “excellence, glory MPs, the former by a first term and distinction”, the election re- Looking only at valid votes cast, Member of Parliament? sults gives rise to concern about the vote for the BN was 66 per cent our public and political culture, in Selangor, 59 per cent in KL, 70 In the first place, Sarawak has not with some notable exceptions. per cent in Negri Sembilan and 72 particularly distinguished itself per cent in Melaka. In Penang, the for its environment-friendliness. Media and other pundits have at- “Badawi factor” managed a com- In the second place, it is well- tributed the ruling party’s stagger- paratively miserable 57 per cent, known that just about the only ing win to the person of Abdullah enough for a solid win, but hardly state in the country where there Badawi and to the “feel good” fac- a landslide. can be significant plantation de- tor that he allegedly generated. velopment is Sarawak. Are we Indeed, an observer from Mars Why is this important? In 1999, looking at a future where there might be forgiven if she had given the great uncertainties, it will be even greater clearing of for- thought that there was only one was understandable of the rich est for plantation development? candidate for the elections, given central region, in particular the the uniquity of Badawi’s face. This non-Malays, went for security In the third place, why was not is the so-called “Badawi factor”. and voted the BN. In 2004, there another Sarawak MP, now in his was no uncertainty as to the out- second term and someone associ- The Malaysian and world media come and it might have been ex- ated with the Sarawak Natural declared the outcome of the elec- pected that the rich central region, Resources and Environment tions to be a massive defeat for the home of the Malaysian mid- Board since its inception, ap- PAS. A tsunami had hit it, so it was dle class, might have tempered pointed as the new minister for declared. their votes and either split their natural resources and the environ- state and parliamentary votes, or ment? Why instead, was a first Yet, a closer and careful look at voted for greater representation of termer, a close associate of the the results – accepting them at the opposition. Chief Minister of Sarawak, and face value – belies this conclusion. someone anointed by the Chief There was indeed a tsunami – but But the central region, despite be- Minister as a leading candidate it hit in the rich, multi-ethnic cen- ing vociferous about the failures for succession, chosen? tral region of Selangor, KL, Negri of government, did not. A meas- Sembilan and Melaka even more ure of this is the decline in the ab- Although these new ministries yet than in the poor, largely mono-eth- solute number of votes for the to be organised – only the minis- nic northern region states. Indeed, DAP. Thus, in 1999, the DAP won ters have been named – the De- there was an even larger tidal a total of 770,491 votes. In 2004, partment of Environment has wave in Pahang, while Johor fur- they received only 611,286 votes – been treated as a step-child, and ther confirmed its distinction of in the context of a significantly been told to vacate its offices in being the “dictatorship” of the larger electorate. This represents the old Ministry of Science, Tech- BN. an absolute decline of over nology and Environment, al- 159,000 votes. Indeed, even in the though it does not yet have a new Contrariwise, the one state where Federal Territory of KL, the DAP home. Is this an indication of the the “Badawi factor” might be rea- saw its share of the vote decline importance of the environment in sonably thought to have its great- from 30 to 24 per cent. the hierarchy of concerns? est cache, namely his home state of Penang, turned out to be a bit of While there was obviously a The Badawi a hold-out and a spoil sport. swing in Malay votes in Kelantan “Feel Good” Factor? and Terengganu, there was an Thus, while the central region equally large swing in Malay If these matters are enough blight states voted at above the national votes in the central region, deliv- on the dawn of a promised new average for the Barisan Nasional, ering massive losses to PAS and

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 6 Keadilan. Moreover, ral home – multi-eth- in the northern nic and middle class Malay states, the – what then is its fu- large swing still left ture? PAS and Keadilan with over 40 per cent Despite its massive of the votes, in the losses, Keadilan re- central region, the tains the affection – swing left them with and it must be that, in a small rump. the face of such a widespread collapse Evidently, the rich – of something like central region had Can Keadilan get PAS to face reality? 15-20 per cent of the little use for an oppo- electorate. Moreover, sition. This outcome should oc- being swept away, it remains a it is a multi-ethnic 15-20 per cent. cupy analysts, especially those party to be reckoned with. who think of the middle class as The big question is whether it is the natural base for building Nevertheless, it is equally clear possible for it to build from this, multi-party democracies. that contrary to all the insults and what needs to be done to do heaped upon the voters of the so. At the same time, the decline in northern states – the equivalent of votes for the DAP should also give the old fear factor of “ulu” – they Some will suggest that it is the link pause for thought – in particular, indeed do vote in a considered to PAS that has been Keadilan’s the possible fade out of the DAP fashion, hardly afraid of express- undoing. At the same time, any into the role of what is essentially ing themselves. hard-nosed assessment of the fu- an “appointed” opposition. ture demographic picture indi- Leaving aside all the irregulari- cates that the only options are a The Northern Region ties, what is clear is that there was continued link with PAS, a return a swing of voters away from PAS. to the BN, or contentment with What then of the tsunami in the The voters were evidently disap- being an “appointed” opposition north? pointed with what they had seen. in a few seats.

It should be recalled that Kelantan There is therefore a lesson in all These are the hard questions that and Terengganu are the only two this for PAS. Unfortunately, the confront the Keadilan leadership states in the peninsula which irregularities have allowed the and its devoted followers. That have had changes in state govern- PAS leadership to evade these is- there will be a reflux of some of its ment. Viewed in that perspective, sues. This, perhaps, is the most membership back to UMNO is in- while Abdullah Badawi can ob- negative consequence of these evitable. Can the rest consolidate viously feel good about UMNO’s elections – for it is evident that and make something of its link to showing, it is not at all evident there can be no viable opposition PAS to get the latter to face up to that this represents the eclipse of without PAS, but there can be no the fact that its policies and prac- PAS. viable opposition with a PAS that tice cannot appeal to a majority of refuses to face up to the realities Malaysians? If not, then once What is clear is that PAS contin- of Malaysia and of the wishes of again, Malaysian politics will ues to retain a solid following in the people of Malaysia. have lost yet another opportunity the northern states and remains to build a multi-ethnic coalition in reach of winning back those Keadilan – end of the road? that can trace out a path to a truly states. Moreover, a closer look at brave new world, for what we are the results elsewhere indicates Given the collapse of Keadilan in now offered is pretty much the that it continues to have a small the central region, the region same old world, if with a gentle but solid following. Thus, far from which many thought to be its natu- veneer. q

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 7 ELECTION 2004 Understanding the 2004 Election Results Looking beyond the Pak Lah factor by Francis Loh

n the 11th General Elec- III tion, which was held on 21 March 2004, the Barisan Nasional (BN) scored a spectacular victory, poll- ing 63.8% of the popular vote (up from 56% in 1999). In Malaysia’s first-past-the-post (or simple ma- jority) electoral system, this trans- lated into 198 of the 219 parlia- ment seats, or 90.4% of all the seats in parliament. This is the ruling party’s highest ever domination of parliament.

A comparison of the results of the parliamentary seats throughout In fact, BN/UMNO had only 2004 and the 1999 general pro- the country. The results belied polled 48.5 percent of the popu- vides insight into this victory. For the fact that the BN, essentially lar vote in the large Malay ma- analytical purposes let us distin- UMNO, had performed poorly jority constituencies and won guish the peninsula from the in the Malay heartland states of only 22 of the 52 large Malay- Sabah and Sarawak seats. It is fur- Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah majority seats contested. Its per- ther useful to divide the peninsula and Perlis. PAS had won all formance in the Chinese major- seats into three major types: gen- eight parliamentary seats in ity seats was also poor. The BN erally rural large Malay-majority Tereng-ganu and 13 of 14 seats polled 48.0 of the popular vote seats (with more than 70 percent at stake in Kelantan. PAS also in these seats and only won 4 of Malay voters); urban large Chi- performed very well in the con- the 10 seats. The BN’s victory nese-majority seats (with more test for state seats and emerged was only secured because it per- than 70 percent Chinese voters) as the ruling party in Kelantan formed spectacularly in the and semi-urban mixed seats and Terengganu states. In semi-urban mixed constituen- (wherein no particular ethnic Kedah, Mahathir’s home state, cies where it captured 76 of 82 group constitutes more than 70 PAS even bested UMNO, win- seats and polled 60 percent of percent of the voters). ning 8 out of 15 parliamentary the popular vote in these mixed seats, although UMNO gained constituencies. As well, the BN In 1999, BN won 102 out of the more state seats than PAS and won all 28 seats in Sarawak and 144 parliamentary seats in the so won the right to form the state 17 of 21 seats in Sabah (includ- peninsula, and 148 out of the 193 government. ing Labuan).

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 8 Lah factor”. Apparently, it was the Performance of BN in 1999 and 2004 person of the new prime minister General Elections by Constituency Type Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that 1999 2004 had made the difference. In less No. of Won % of No. of Won % of than five months, after assuming power in November 1, 2003, Seats votes Seats votes Abdullah, it is suggested, has PeninsulaPeninsulaPeninsula been able to stamp his own mark Malay majority and to distinguish himself from (>70% Malays) 5 2 2 2 48.5 60 5 3 59.1 Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had dominated the political scene for Chinese majority 22 long years. (>70% Chinese) 1 0 4 48.0 1 2 2 46.5 Mixed 8 2 76 60.0 9 3 9 1 70.1 Indeed, Abdullah did introduce Peninsula Total 1 4 4 1 0 2 1 6 5 1 4 6 63.8 important changes in the short Sabah (inc Labuan) 2 1 1 8 59.7 26 2 5 Na time that he had been in office. It has become clearer what he meant Sarawak 28 28 65.9 28 27 Na when he proclaimed that he TOTAL 1 9 3 1 4 8 2 1 9 1 9 8 would focus on the “software part” rather than the “hardware In 2004, the BN claimed 25 of the mentary seats ended up with only part of development” and on de- 26 seats in Sabah (including one seat. Of the opposition par- veloping a “first-class mentality” Labuan) and 27 of the 28 seats in ties, only DAP managed to hold among Malaysians to accompany Sarawak. It also won 146 of the its own. It performed well in the the “first-class infrastructure” 165 seats in the Peninsula. Again, urban Chinese majority seats win- Mahathir left behind. These the BN performed very well in the ning 12 parliamentary seats, in- changes pertained to “improving semi-urban mixed seats winning cluding Kuching in Sarawak (up governance”, “fighting corrup- 91 of 93 seats. More importantly, from 10 in1999). The final seat tion”, restoring “safety and secu- it also performed very well in the went to an independent who de- rity”, “improving the delivery of Malay heartland states where the feated the BN candidate in services by the civil service” and rural large Malay-majority seats Sandakan, Sabah. what might be termed a “work are to be found. It won all 8 par- with me” style of politics. liamentary seats in Terengganu; Hence, Abdullah secured the all 3 seats in Perlis; 8 of 14 seats in mandate from both non-Malay as Some of these issues are discussed Kelantan; and 14 of the 15 seats well as Malay voters. He had in an accompanying article by in Kedah. More than that, the BN proved himself more popular than Wong Kok Keong in this issue of recaptured Terengganu state Mahathir who had lost the popu- the AM. Wong shows that this when it won 28 out of 32 state lar Malay vote to the opposition Pak Lah factor was carefully con- seats, while it narrowly conceded in 1999, and needed BN victories structed and packaged to appeal Kelantan state to PAS when it in Sabah and Sarawak, and the to the old and young. In fact, it was gained 21 to PAS’s 24 state seats. popular support of non-Malays in not only image. With these The BN further performed very Chinese-majority and mixed con- changes, Abdullah, in fact, had well in the contest for state seats stituencies to defeat the opposi- refused to concede the higher in Kedah (winning 31 of 36 seats) tion. How does one account for moral ground to the opposition; and in Perlis (winning 14 of 15 this spectacular BN victory in corruption, for instance, could not seats). The total number of PAS 2004? be made into an electoral issue. He MPs dropped from 27 in 1999 to refused to cede religious author- only 7 following the 2004 election. The ‘Pak Lah Factor’ ity to Pas either. An alternative Meanwhile, Parti Keadilan, version of a progressive, tolerant which previously held 5 parlia- Many analysts have cited the “Pak and modern Islam, what he called

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 9 merely a caretaker government. The 2004 delineation exercise There was more. also involved substantive redraw- ing of the electoral boundaries in Changing The Rules all states which had additional And The Boundaries seats as well as in the Kedah and Terengganu where there were no With its two-thirds majority in the additional seats. This redrawing, last Parliament, the Mahathir’s no doubt, benefit the BN more government had passed amend- than the opposition. Indeed, this ments to the Election Act and Elec- 2003 delineation exercise was tion Offences Act in April 2002. probably the most comprehensive In the 2003 delineation exercise, that has been conducted. It is not the Elections Commission (SPR), surprising therefore that so many which has lost all semblance of irregularities have been reported its original autonomy, had also this time. (see accompanying arti- Pak Lah factor an indictment of added 26 new parliamentary cle by Ramdas Tikamdas) Mahathir? seats and 63 state seats especially “Islam Hadhari”, was offered. in the states where the BN had ISA, Detention performed very well in 1999. Most And Convictions To a large extent, the Pak Lah fac- of these seats were semi-urban tor adds up to things that mixed seats. These includ 5 par- It should also be remembered that Mahathir did not stand for. And liamentary seats in Sabah; 6 in the Mahathir’s BN government if this is so, the Pak Lah factor Johore; 5 in Selangor; 3 in Pahang; had used the ISA, other coercive amounts to an indictment of and 2 in Penang. No additional laws and the courts to curb the Mahathir. Pak Lah’s finest hour parliamentary seats were added opposition in the period between was apparently gained in project- to Kelantan, Terengganu and the 1999 and 2004 elections. Some ing himself as the mirror opposite Kedah where PAS had scored of the most charismatic leaders of of what Mahathir stood for. huge successes in 1999. In the Parti Keadilan and the reformasi event, the BN won 25 of the 26 new movement – Ezam Mohamed Nor, The BN control of the broadcast seats. The exception was the vic- Tian Chua, Saari Sungib, Lokman as well as the print media ensured tory of Karpal Singh in Bukit Noor Adam, Dr Badrulamin that this image of Pak Lah was Gelugor. Bahron, Hishamuddin Rais (and projected effectively, yet without for a while Raja Petra and openly castigating his predeces- Gobalakrishnan too) were de- sor. tained under the ISA on trumped up charges of threatening national That said, it was not simply the security. Vice-President Mohd Pak Lah factor and Abdullah’s Azmin Ali was taken to court and new initiatives in the past five finally sentenced to 18 months jail months that account for the BN’s for perjury in 2001. Deputy spectacular victory. No doubt, Wanita chief Irene Fernandez was there were continuities from the also taken to court and sentenced past which also benefited the BN. to 12 months jail for publishing We refer to the usual 3-M’s: the allegedly false news. Ezam, the money that the BN parties and Youth leader, already detained candidates so easily availed them- under the ISA, was taken to court selves of; the control of the elec- on a charge of disclosing official tronic and print media; and the secrets and subsequently sen- BN’s usual abuse of the govern- tenced to two years jail. Ezam, ment machinery even while it was Karpal's victory was an exception Azmin and Fernandez, as well as

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 10 Lim Guan Eng of the DAP, were The Opposition nities during the early 1990s, as- all ruled ineligible to contest the sociated with the new neo-liberal 2004 election on the grounds of However, the opposition itself policies of deregulation and pri- their conviction. must also be held accountable for vatisation. This new political cul- its defeat. There have arisen much ture valorizes rapid economic Nor should we forget that the anxieties among Muslims as well growth, the resultant consumer- natural leader of Parti Keadilan, as non-Muslims as a result of ist habits, and the political stabil- Anwar Ibrahim, had his appeals PAS’s undue focus on introduc- ity offered by BN rule even when against his conviction by Justice ing Hudud and Qisas laws, and authoritarian means are resorted Augustine Paul in April 1999, Islamic rule generally in to. Since no other party has ever rejected by the Appeals, and Terengganu. This was a principal ruled Malaysia, many ordinary then the Federal Court. Anwar’s reason causing the withdrawal of Malaysians including the middle- appeal was based on exposing the DAP from the opposition coa- classes cannot imagine that politi- the intrigue, the selective admis- lition. Additionally, the BN- cal stability can be maintained in sion of evidence, and summary owned or controlled mass media multi-ethnic Malaysia without rejection of critical defence wit- has systematically projected PAS BN rule. A “self-policing” system nesses by the Judge, but alas, to as discriminatory towards in support of BN rule – which is no avail. In this regard, numer- women, and fixated with segrega- believed to be essential for main- ous Malaysian as well as inter- tion of the sexes, and curbing so- taining political stability, (which national bodies, including the called unIslamic forms of dress then attracts foreign investments International Court of Justice, and entertainment. PAS’s lack of and allows economic growth to the International Bar Associa- consultation and rejection of criti- occur), and ultimately for the en- tion, the President of the Euro- cisms vis-à-vis these policies were joyment of higher standards of liv- pean Union, Amnesty Interna- also often highlighted, leaving the ing and consumption – has tional, Asia Watch, the Interna- impression that the party was kicked in. tional Federation for Human even more authoritarian than Rights, etc., had voiced their UMNO and the other BN parties. Developmentalism, therefore, is criticisms of the Court’s decision The sudden death of PAS leader the cultural consequence of the de- to set aside Anwar’s appeal, the Fadzil Noor, popularly regarded velopmental state when citizens, convictions of Fernandez and as more approachable and open- especially the middle-classes, be- other Keadilan leaders, and the minded, and his replacement with gin to enjoy improved living con- use of the ISA generally to de- Abdul Hadi Awang, considered ditions as a result of the economic tain critics without trial. It was more aloof and close-minded, re- growth the state has brought evident that the Malaysian Ju- inforced these negative impres- about. Developmentalism in- diciary had lost its independ- sions of PAS. creasingly displaced the ethnic ence and become beholden to the political discourse and practice in Executive. This, too, Abdullah Developmentalism the 1990s. It is primarily this dis- has inherited. course of developmentalism, not There was yet another Mahathir that of ethnicism, which now sets The above events indicate how legacy which has facilitated the limits to the discourse of democ- the Mahathir’s BN government BN’s victory. This is the emergence racy. had abused its powers to reshape of the new political culture of the electoral process, to detain “developmentalism”, which in A re-definition of the role of politi- and outlaw exciting opposition turn has resulted in a reorientation cal parties, and even of the mean- leaders, and to muzzle and con- of the meaning of politics among ing of politics has further accom- strain the opposition parties. Malaysians. panied this developmentalism. Abdullah benefited from this During this period of economic Mahathir legacy which helps to “Developmentalism” first progress, the BN component par- explain the BN’s clear victory in emerged in the midst of the eco- ties not only avoided debate over the 2004 polls nomic growth and new opportu- policies, especially when they in-

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 11 volved “sensitive issues”, but also particular, have resorted to them, defining the meaning of politics - de-emphasised political educa- instead of the relevant government that account for the continued tion and mobilization. Instead, agencies, in order to resolve their support for the BN. The opposi- “developmentalism” extended its everyday problems and needs, tion parties do not offer an alter- way into the everyday lives of or- whether these are of a personal native development strategy. Yet, dinary people through the deliv- nature or catering for the local more and more Malaysians are im- ery of public works and services. community. bued with developmentalism and increasingly ask what develop- In other words, the BN parties Finally, the BN parties themselves ment projects or services the po- transformed themselves into ex- have ventured into business ac- litical parties can provide them. tensions and instruments of the tivities and forged close ties with state not merely to assist in the other captains of industry and Conclusion maintenance of the status quo, but commerce. Together with them to assist in the delivery of public and their associations like the The BN has won a spectacular vic- works and services. Additionally, Chambers of Commerce and In- tory. Most significant of all is its the Chinese-based BN parties like dustry and other industry-specific victory in the Malay heartland the Malaysian Chinese Associa- bodies like the Federation of states. No doubt, the Pak Lah fac- tion (MCA) even established its Malaysian Manufacturers, the BN tor helps to explain this victory. own college viz. the Kolej Tunku parties have initiated various However, it should not be forgot- Abdul Rahman. The MCA’s projects in support of the BN gov- ten that the BN continues to benefit Langkawi Project further caters to ernment’s post-NEP economic from the Mahathir legacy. On the the educational needs of primary policies, which have been friend- one hand, the SPR, coercive laws, school children Additionally, lier to the private sector in general and the judicial system continued Kojadi, the MCA’s savings co-op- and beneficial to Chinese busi- to be used to stymie the opposition erative provides low-interest ness interests in particular. In such that Malaysian elections, loans for the children of co-opera- summary therefore, the BN politi- though generally free are never fair. tive, members to attend universi- cal parties have assumed very dif- On the other hand, there has also ties and colleges. ferent roles. Ironically, they seem emerged a culture of developmen- to be encouraging their members talism. The Malaysian electorate The BN political parties also es- to withdraw from popular politi- desire rapid economic growth, tablished so-called “service cen- cal participation. which they associate with the BN. tres” and complaints bureaux Unless the opposition is able to throughout the country. These are It is this desire to have economic come up with an alternative devel- partially financed by the constitu- growth and developmentalism, opment plan, it appears that the BN ency development funds allo- therefore, and the related offshoot will always emerge victorious, cated by the government only to of the delivery of services and sometimes spectacularly as in elected politicians belonging to goods by the BN parties down to 2004, sometimes less spectacularly the BN. Poorer Malaysians, in the local level – in the process re- as in 1999. q

Anwar Irene Guan Eng Azmin Ezam Barred from contesting: Would they have made a difference?

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 12 ELECTION 2004

something wrong they must face the An Election Day Under court of law” Two men were also arrested in Tumpat for possessing 11 identity Guardian Angels cards. (NST,March 21)

In Selangor, on polling day pan- by Ramdas Tikamdas demonium and massive disarray erupted on a scale unprecedented n Saturday March 13, the Pantai with two doctors and sev- in the history of our elections. It Election Commission eral nurses from the health depart- was so impossible to deny that OOO (EC) blew the bugle for ment administering check-ups. even the Barisan Nasional lodged the campaign for the The paper also announced that a complaint against the EC. In- 11th general elections to begin and RM 1 billion had been allocated numerable registered voters from gave itself eight days to wrap up to Sarawak by the Federal Govern- all parts of Selangor including the job-the shortest period in ment for school development in Puchong, Serdang, Petaling Jaya Malaysian electoral history. Three the next two years. All no doubt Selatan, Gombak, Selayang, days from nomination day was good causes but on the eve of poll- Pandan and Kuala Kubu Baru lost the cooling period, one assumes, ing day ! their right of franchise with a to allow any candidate inspired number of EC officials reportedly in the interim by God or mammon, Chaos And Disorder nowhere to be found. to withdraw. Polling day was fixed at the tail end of the ides of In any event, no one, not even the To add to the mess, EC officials March on Sunday 21st. astrologers were able to predict unilaterally and without notice to the chaos and disorder which the candidates, extended the vot- The media immediately went into was to follow nomination day ing hours from 5.00pm to 7.00pm predictable frenzy forecasting a right up to polling day. and while some polling stations thumping victory for the ruling started counting the ballots at party. Self-styled political scien- On March 16, two men were de- 5.00pm, others opened up to tists, academics, even astrologers tained by the Anti Corruption 6.00pm and yet others up to and fengshui masters forecast in- Agency (ACA) in Kulai for alleg- 7.00pm! (The Sun March 22).It is evitable and preordained victory edly offering the PAS election not known on what authority the as “election day was under guardian candidate RM 100,000 to with- hours of polling were extended angels” (Star, March 21). The pub- draw his candidacy after the because Regulation 11(5) of the Elec- lic was bombarded day after day PAS candidate’s supporters tions (Conduct of Elections) Regula- with feel good advertising and made a citizens’ arrest and tions,1981 (PU(A)386/1981,pro- spin which one suspects could handed over the suspects. An- vides that “the hours between which even be subliminal. other escaped and later surren- each polling station will be open” dered to the police. Another must be published in the Gazette On the eve of elections the people Keadilan candidate was re- and the gazetted time of closing were publicly given ‘gifts’ for their ported in the Malay Mail (March was 5.00pm.Further Regulation assumed support the following 18) as alleging that he had been 23 expressly states that “No Ballot day. The New Sunday Times, March offered money to withdraw from paper shall be issued to a voter after 21, 2004 happily announced that contesting. The Star, (March 18) the hour fixed for the closing of the the Melaka Chief Minister had reported the Prime Minister as poll but if at that hour there is in the launched a RM 22.5 million saying that the ACA “was an in- polling station any voter to whom a facelift project for the Portuguese dependent body” and he had “al- ballot paper has been issued, such Settlement. Free health screening lowed the ACA to take action voter shall be allowed to record his was made available in Lembah against them and if the ACA find vote.” Nothing beyond that.

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 13 Police Reports ghost army of the “Lord of the undermined the requirements of Rings, The Return of the King”; a free and fair election. Were these Various police reports have been hence the term ‘kemenangan hantu’ the result of inadvertence, negli- lodged and complaints registered or phantom victory used by the gence, reckless disregard for the with the EC including: defeated Hadi. election process or, worse, a de- liberate conspiracy to defraud? i. the names of various regis- It will of course perplex the un- These questions can only be an- tered voters were not on the initiated whether or how if at all swered by an independent and electoral roll despite having the phantom voters were able to open inquiry and upon the find- voted in their constituency in vote under the noses of an incum- ings of this inquiry hangs public the past. bent, (albeit caretaker) opposition confidence in the mandate of the state government. Or did the si- EC and the integrity of the 11th ii. others had their names on the lent majority, stung by the Hudud general elections. roll but still could not vote as and Qisas Enactment and disap- the EC failed to assign them to pointed with the lack of focus on The Election Court can only de- voting streams to obtain bal- temporal development, decide to termine election petitions for in- lots. take their fate in their own hands dividual constituencies but it is through the ballot? Only an inde- only a Royal Commission of In- iii. others were transferred with- pendent inquiry into the Electoral quiry which can consider compre- out their knowledge to other Roll(s) and into the conduct of the hensively and objectively what constituencies and even to election process can resolve these really happened in the 11th gen- other states. nagging questions. eral elections.

In Sungai Lembing in Pahang, Electoral Roll: Postal Ballots voting had to be suspended and Three Versions In Trash Can was rescheduled to the following week because of a misprint on the There are also complaints that In the meantime, difficult as it ballot papers. there were purportedly three ver- may sound, it is suggested that all sions of the Electoral Roll and the parties must accept the results as While in many places the com- version used on polling day was officially pronounced by the EC plaint was the loss of the right of different from the version given to because rejecting the validity of the franchise, in Terengganu on the the candidates just after nomina- election results will undermine other hand, the allegation is that tion day. the democratic fabric of our soci- all and sundry voted! It would ety and that cannot be counte- appear that the people of Opposition candidates also pro- nanced. Terengganu especially heeded the tested bitterly that despite the new plea of the Prime Minister to “come amended S.26 A (1) of the Elections Day after day more irregulari- out in full force to cast (your) ballots Offences Act 1954, which provides ties and discrepancies are being on Sunday as every vote counts” that only the EC shall provide exposed, such as postal ballots (Star, March 17). In fact a number booths to assist electors to ascer- in Sabak Bernam being found in of parliamentary and state con- tain their electoral numbers on the a trash can, leaving the public stituencies recorded an astound- electoral roll, at the 11th hour and to wonder whatever happened ing voter turnout of about 90 per- after the Barisan Nasional had put to the “guardian angels” on elec- cent achieving national records up their “pejabat party” at the vari- tion day. In the meantime, over which are a cause for pride and ous centres, the EC purportedly to the Courts of Justice and the jubilation and a triumph for de- had a change of heart and al- Commission of Inquiry. After all, mocracy. But PAS claims these lowed the same, leaving the op- this is a government that wants high turnouts are extraordinary, position candidates without their to know the truth. q suspicious and dubious. It alleges booths. that this was achieved only with the assistance of the netherworld Given all these infirmities, the Ramdas Tikamdas is the – of an army of phantoms through- question arises whether they are President of HAKAM, the Na- out the state of Terengganu, some- merely technical glitches or sub- tional Human Rights Society. what akin to the Oathbreakers stantial irregularities that have

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 14 ELECTION 2004 All That Glitters Is Not Gold Keadilan should have learnt some lessons from the Indera Kayangan by election by Raja Petra Kamarudin

t is so tempting to write (on 29 November 2000). In fact, an analysis of the re- they made this quite clear with III cently concluded 11th their posters that said, “Indera General Election. But I Kayangan Bukan Lunas”. will resist that temptation. What I am going to do instead is to resur- I was in the ‘parade’ to the nomi- rect an old article I wrote in Janu- nation centre when I received a ary 2002, just days after the phone call from one of the Indera Kayangan by-election fi- Keadilan Youth Exco Members asco. asking me how many people there were in our crowd? I asked him Then, I said certain things about where he was and he said he was be able to maintain our 70% Malay why we lost that by-election. I amongst the BN mob — spying on support, they said, and get prob- also said Indera Kayangan is them. ably 50% or so of the Chinese keADILan’s wakeup call. But did votes. This meant we could win we wake up? Did we run the re- I replied I did not know exactly the seat with a reasonable margin. cent general election any differ- but there were maybe 5,000 or so ently? opposition supporters. The Youth Was this wishful thinking? Some- Exco Member then asked me to be times there is this invisible line Well, read on and see what I said careful (not to start an incident) between ambition and dreaming. in that article of January 2002 because there were probably While the former is positive, the called, “All that glitters is not 10,000 to 15,000 BN supporters. latter is not, as dreamers seldom gold”: He added that they outnumbered live within reality. No! This is re- us two to one or more and if any ality, I was told. How often have we heard the say- trouble erupted we would have ing, “All that glitters is not gold”? problems defending ourselves. We Lost Before This has never rung truer than in The Race Started the recently concluded Indera After Nomination Day, many of Kayangan by-election on 19 Janu- our supporters returned to their There is much our boys on the ary 2002, which can only be various hometowns — leaders ground either overlooked or, if summed up as a disaster. included — leaving a skeleton they were aware of it, ignored. The operation to manage the cam- reality of the situation is, we never I started having reservations paigning. I too did not spend the had a chance from the start — and about winning this by-election entire ten days in Indera Nomination Day should have from day one — Nomination Day Kayangan, though I did get regu- made us realise that. And this is — when the Barisan Nasional lar feedback from the boys on the because BN was two months (BN) election machinery outnum- ground. ahead of us bered us two to one. It was appar- ent they outgunned us and were The feedback I got was that we While we were busy trying to not about to let us do a repeat per- had a 50:50 chance of winning the outdo each other in the internal formance of the Lunas by-election Indera Kayangan seat. We should party elections in late 2001, BN

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 15 was already working hard infil- bodyguards. But there were not the voters had turned out to cast trating the very homes of the vot- many burly men to offer as body- their votes. By 2.00pm, still less ers. Two months before the late as- guards and the one or two that did than half the voters had come out. semblyman died, BN was already escort the Keadilan women had At 4.00pm, less than 70% of the campaigning for the much-antici- to stay by their cars to prevent their voters had voted. We did not have pated by-election and Puteri windscreens from being smashed, enough people to scout the homes UMNO had by then sent its peo- leaving the women totally ex- of those who had not voted yet to ple to live fulltime in the homes of posed to the UMNO bouncers as convince them to come out, or the Malay voters. they made their rounds. enough vehicles to ferry them to the polling stations in the event Money was no obstacle and Puteri On one occasion, the Keadilan they wanted to vote. UMNO paid the homeowners for women had to flee and leap into the ‘anak angkat’ to live in their their cars to escape a hammering BN Sent Us homes. Puteri UMNO also paid from a large crowd of UMNO A Red Herring for all the daily living expenses Youth. The UMNO Youth had to and the homeowners were practi- be contented with hammering the At around 3.00pm, an incident cally supported by their ‘adopted car out of shape with the Keadilan erupted that strained our already children’. women trapped inside the car and very minimal resources. Someone screaming with fear. After awhile, had spotted five busloads of By the time Wanita Keadilan it became impossible for the ‘phantom’ voters and everyone started making their rounds to the women to make their rounds, rushed to the site to try and pre- Malay homes, there were very few compounded by the fact that the vent the buses from getting homes left that would open their police advised all opposition through. The police were then doors to them. Puteri UMNO had workers to stay indoors and not summoned to the scene but they successfully ‘locked up’ all these walk around town for their own took their time to arrive. In the homes and they were no longer safety, as the police could not guar- meantime, our people were accessible to the Keadilan women. antee they would not be accosted ‘locked up’ at the scene and could by the UMNO Youth. not do anything else other than There were many instances where just maintain a show of force for the Puteri UMNO ‘adopted chil- We Did Not Have the next hour or so. dren’ shouted at our Keadilan The Numbers women and told them to get out The police finally arrived and es- off the ‘UMNO homes’. Not only Three days before Polling Day, the corted the buses to the police sta- were the Puteri UMNO downright party workers in Indera tion — but not before one of the rude, they even used vulgar lan- Kayangan sent out an SOS for re- UMNO boys punched one of the guage and obscenities on our inforcements. But it was only by hapless policemen. Everyone was Keadilan women. This intimi- Friday — 24 hours before Polling instructed to follow the convoy to dated the Keadilan women who Day — that the full team arrived. ensure that the buses were not re- would rather steer clear of these By then it was too late. The dam- leased and its passengers allowed homes. age had been done and it was too to vote. More reinforcements were late to turn the tide. summoned and everyone aban- The Keadilan Women doned their posts at the polling Were Unprotected Polling Day again revealed how stations and went to beef up the outnumbered we were. The BN team camped outside the police When words alone did not work, vote canvassers (perayu undi) were station. the UMNO chaps became physi- out in full force and swamped us. cal. The ‘Black Crows’ or ‘Gagak The number of BN cars ferrying From 4.00pm, until polling ended Hitam’ (so-called because of the the voters to the polling stations at 5.00pm, the action was now black jackets they used) would also outnumbered us. We just did outside the police station. We were surround our Keadilan women not have enough people and ve- determined that the five busloads and threaten them. hicles to get the voters to the poll- of ‘phantom voters’, representing ing stations. maybe 200 or so votes, would not This, of course, intimidated our be allowed to vote. In that one hour women further and they asked for By noon, only about one-third of we were engaged outside the po-

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 16 lice station, the voter turnout mys- Anwar in another form — not a the ground you sometimes cannot teriously jumped from less than victim of Rahim Nor’s brutality or separate the trees from the forest. 70% to 76%. the victim of trumped-up charges. And our two friends, though they may have been out of the country Were these five busloads of UMNO But the repackaging was never at that time, had a good bird’s eye supporters just a decoy? Accord- done. Instead, we tried to sidestep view of the whole situation. ing to reports received, these buses the Anwar issue and focus on were at the site since early morn- Shahidan Kassim as the bogey- Keadilan’s ing. Why did they just stay put man. No doubt many Perlis Wakeup Call there where they could easily Malays do despise Shahidan and arouse our suspicion? If they re- we were hoping that this would This sounds very cliché and has ally were phantom voters then be severe enough for them to re- already been said by others over they should have secretly sneaked ject the BN candidate. Our strat- the last few days, but the Indera in rather than congregate in a big egy was built on hatred — the Kayangan by-election is group and attract attention. people’s hatred for Shahidan — Keadilan’s wakeup call. We must rather than on love — the people’s be able to distinguish between On hindsight, these so-called love for justice and fair play. ambition and dreams. It’s one phantom voters were not phan- thing to have ambitions of form- tom voters but a decoy to take us Invariably, the people’s hatred for ing the next government — it’s all away from our posts while the Shahidan was not severe enough another when all we do is dream real phantom voters cast their to make them reject the BN candi- about it. votes in the last hour before poll- date. ing ended. The fact that the DAP is more realistic. Its ambi- Keadilan supporters outnum- Our Bullishness tion is to offer the people a bered the UMNO supporters out- Got The Better Of Us strong opposition. But they still side the police station by far gives view themselves as only the op- an impression that they were not position — never the ruling gov- really interested in the buses at all. At 2.00 pm, I received a phone call ernment. PAS hopes to maintain The buses were there just to en- from one of our supporters in the its presence in the two East gage us and dilute our already UK asking me whether it was true Coast States of Terengganu and thin numbers. we were going to lose the by-elec- Kelantan and, maybe, add a cou- tion by 2,500 votes. I was sur- ple more Malay-dominated Anwar Was No prised he had put our loss that states to its list as they go along. Longer The Issue high and asked him from where Keadilan wants to form the next he had obtained this figure. He federal government. The campaigning itself may have told me — one of the Youth Exco been off tangent. Everyone thought Members (who, may I add, hap- It’s not that this cannot be that Anwar Ibrahim was no longer pened to also be overseas at that achieved. I would say it is down- an issue and that the “mata lebam” time). right difficult, though not impos- an outdated cause. Rahim Nor sible. But this can never be done if had already been punished so I asked one of those manning the we manage the elections the way why keep talking about Anwar’s Youth operation centre whether he we did Indera Kayangan. Now, I black eye? So we avoided bring- shared this view and, of course, am not saying our boys and girls ing Anwar into the campaign, es- he did not. We had a 50:50 chance did not work hard; they did. But pecially to ensure that UMNO of winning, he said, and even if just working hard is not enough, does not say Keadilan is just about we did lose it would not be more we also need to work smart, and freeing Anwar from jail. than 500 votes. in Indera Kayangan we were out- smarted by UMNO. It had been decided late last year We all know now that the chap in (2001) that Anwar is still an issue the UK was right, as was the Exco Our boys thought we had a though the mata lebam episode may Youth Member who was overseas. golden opportunity to win the not be. What we needed to do is to As they say, when you have a heli- Indera Kayangan by-election — ‘repackage’ Anwar. Anwar still copter view you can see things just like we did Lunas — but all matters but we need to present more clearly but when you are on that glitters is not gold. q

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Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 18 ELECTION 2004 An Open Letter To Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Dear Prime Minister

irst of all, congratulations on your electoral FF victory. The Malaysian people have given FFF you an unprecedented, overwhelming mandate. Kudos! You deserve it!

Like the rest of my fellow citizens, I now look for- ward to your honoring your mandate to the fullest, especially in terms of your pre-election commitments to:

• “combat corruption and improve the quality of government services; enhance parliamentary democracy; • respect the separation of powers under the con- stitution; • respect the rule of law; • set up a first class governance system; and • implement comprehensive and balanced devel- opment”.

In view of the many challenges that you face as our Prime Minister, please rest assured that I shall “work with you” to ensure that your pre-election agenda does not end up as an “agenda of sweet election promises”, if I may so humbly quote your most es- teemed thoughts in your own BN election manifesto.

I also note with deep admiration that you have cho- sen to focus a lot on the human side of development. Your election manifesto was a marvelous “touchy- feely, reaching out and touching hearts” document unsurpassed by any previous BN manifesto. It is thus in this light that I wish to alert you to an impor- tant humanitarian and human rights issue.

In your interview with the BBC as reported by BERNAMA on 23 March, you discussed among oth- What about the pain Datin Seri Wan Azizah and her family go ers, personal issues, especially Datin Endon’s health through?

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 19 and struggle against cancer. You also Datin Seri Wan Azizah and Thus given your thumping elec- said the following: the spouses of the many ISA de- toral victory and your obvious hu- tainees worry about their respec- manity, why not show magna- “It is tough. It is tough, you don’t tive spouses health and well-be- nimity and free Anwar Ibrahim have all the time to do what you ing. And even as you find the go- along with all the ISA detainees like to do for the family.” ing “tough”, so too I am sure do unconditionally? Alternatively, Datin Seri Wan Azizah and the why not give them all a free and Describing his wife as his number spouses of the ISA detainees. fair trial, one that is in line with one supporter, the Prime Minister internationally accepted stand- said: “We are very close. We love And I am sure, as much as Datin ards? Surely, given your commit- each other very much.” Endon and you love each other, ment to the “rule of law and the so too does Datin Seri Wan Azizah separation of powers”, this is a “ She takes care of me and does things and Anwar Ibrahim love each good move, no? After all, you for me that others cannot do. We are other. Similarly, the spouses of the don’t seriously believe that any of happy. I don’t have the quantity of ISA detainees love their detained the diplomats (except possibly the time, but I give her quality time”. life partners very much also. ASEAN representatives) accred- ited to Wisma Putra even half be- As you take on more and more re- In your interview, you said that lieve your views about Anwar sponsibilities for the country as you want to spend quality time Ibrahim receiving a fair trial as re- Prime Minister, I can only empa- with Datin Endon. I think this is ported by BERNAMA? Why stick thize with your family and you, a wonderful example that will go to an old, tired and discredited re- and the daily struggles that you far to promote closer family ties frain when you can write your must endure. Indeed, I am con- and social cohesion in Malaysia. own symphony for Anwar vinced that it must be tough. Thus, surely you realize that, like Ibrahim and the rest of the ISA you, Datin Seri Wan Azizah and detainees? Thus, you must surely under- the spouses of the ISA detainees stand as well, the difficulties and also want to spend quality time If you do this, I am convinced you the pain Datin Seri Wan Azizah with their life partners and their will open a new chapter in and her family go through with children. Malaysian politics and social val- the continued incarceration of her ues, a renewal of all that spouse, Anwar Ibrahim. As well, The BN manifesto and your BBC Malaysians aspire to. And we will surely you must understand the interview prove to me that you always remember you for this. difficulties and pain all the have an insightful grasp of our The choice of course, is yours. spouses and families of the nu- common human condition and merous ISA detainees go through the struggles that many With my sincere wishes, with each passing day. Malaysians go through daily, one - unsurpassed by any of your pred- Andrew Aeria As you worry for Datin Endon, so ecessors.

Given your thumping electoral victory and your obvious humanity, why not show magnanimity and free Anwar Ibrahim along with all the ISA detainees unconditionally?

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 20 ELECTION 2004 From The Back Seat Of The Calon’s Car On the campaign trail in Sg Siput by Passenger

he lorry stalled on the TT slope. As the driver TTT struggled to restart it, it slid downhill, back- wards towards a huge drain. The balloon team jumped out of the back of the lorry screaming. Except for one. My foot was trapped under 1,000 “Undilah Dr Kumar/Undilah Segar” bal- loons. I was positioned between the helium gas tanks. The tanks began to shift as the lorry veered some more.

“Akka, Jump!” Anyone involved in elections, es- So when I went to Sg Siput to join pecially for the opposition, knows in the PSM contest for both the par- I had a vision of my husband tell- how much effort is involved. The liamentary and state seats under ing my son “I’ve got some bad huge mountains that have to be the KeADILan ticket, I had the news, son ……. your mum has climbed, the obstructions that are usual anxieties. What if the nomi- been squashed by a gas tank put in your way, the relentless nation forms were not filled cor- whilst trying to get the message pressure of knowing that the me- rectly, what if we could not afford across to the people .…..” My fel- dia will trumpet the merits of the the deposit, what if the candidates low balloonists who had long ago BN to the detriment of all else. We lost their deposit, what if it was a abandoned ship were screaming know that decent discussion, ob- 3-cornered fight, would we do bet- “Akka, Jump!” jectivity and fairness are as alien ter or worse than last time, what if to the election process as cows to this and what if that…There were I tugged at my foot, abandoned the the moon. so many ‘what-ifs’, I was ex- balloons and dived off the back of hausted before the campaigning the lorry. We watched, sweating. Anyone involved in elections, es- could even begin. The lorry rolled back, and back, pecially for the opposition, will and … miraculously stopped, its know how hard you have to work A Sea Of Light Blue wheel an inch from the drain. The just to get a toehold on the proc- convoy with the calons (candi- ess. No money, no media, just a Nomination day arrived. From dates) carried on oblivious. Was small band of utterly dedicated now on, sleep was a luxury. Up at this a sign? And if so, what did it people – our machinery - and lots 5.00am and nervously looking all mean? of heart. through the nomination forms for

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 21 the 100th time, the ‘what-ifs’ were down to work. polling agents at every polling sta- killing me. By 7am, people began tion, people who knew what to to arrive at the Bilik Gerakan in Youthful Vitality look out for and how to check for Taman Orkid. Laughing, smiling fraud. It was a huge task for a they donned their T-shirts and The Bilik Gerakan was abuzz small party like PSM but people picked up blue flags. A festive at- with continuous activity. We spot- came forward to help. mosphere hung in the air. Never ted familiar faces from the last mind about the other sides, this side election but this time round, we It was clear that the Election Com- was happy, in the mood, ready. noticed a tremendous new pres- mission was not particularly both- ence of young people. Their vital- ered about fraud. Changes in the We lined up orderly, without a ity and willingness to work was law since the last election had ruckus, without blocking the traf- wonderful. Material had to be made it more difficult to challenge fic. And when the calons arrived, sorted out into three languages voters suspected of being phan- no fanfare greeted them. Instead, and according to the areas being tom voters. smiles and quiet warm wishes, visited; posters, banners, flags hand shakes and greetings were needed to be put up. Leaflets were The electoral rolls were now dis- exchanged with the knowledge folded. Lorries arrived and left, tributed by the Commission as that there was work to be done. laden with something or other for PDF files rather than EXCEL – somewhere or other. All this went meaning, for those of you who Both calons took their places up on without a fuss. A few doors haven’t spent many a happy hour front and then everyone began to away a BN Bilik Gerakan was trying to see how many people are walk - a steady brisk pace from barely alive by comparison. actually registered at 218, Taman the Bilik Gerakan to the Nomina- Something, that it was now ex- tion Centre. A 25-minute walk. One Week, That’s All tremely difficult to search effi- This is a good part of the election! ciently for fraud. Passerbys smile, cars toot, people The week flew by. One week, that’s wave…… It’s a good moment. all the people of Malaysia had One would have thought that the been allowed. Posters were up. Election Commission would be Of course I was still struggling Leaflets were distributed. Every- delighted to have any help it can with the nomination forms, in- day both the calons went on regu- get in weeding out cheats – but cluding numerous spare sets, lar walkabouts. Groups accompa- apparently not. copies of Buku Panduan Calon and nied them; people from elsewhere liquid paper (just in case) and was in Malaysia came for a day, or two, Loud Music vs about to succumb to another se- and walked, and talked, sweated Mission Impossible vere ‘what-if’ anxiety attack when under the hot sun, and left. Pam- I turned to look at the crowd. Anxi- phlets were given out, conversa- As the week moved on, little ety disappeared. What a sight! A tions held in coffee shops, in front “events” were planned and ex- shimmering sea of light blue - peo- gardens and by the roadside. Peo- ecuted. On the Tuesday, the party ple walking, talking, laughing, ple smiled, and nodded, and launched the booklet “Skandal: sweating, smiling. There we all whispered, and many came for- Pengundi Hantu di Sg Siput” (Scan- were, old and young, making our ward to shake the calons’ hands. dal: Phantom voters in Sg Siput). way to the nomination centre, And in the evenings, they at- This was a booklet that documents walking together because we be- tended the various ceramahs.. clearly the way phantom voters lieved in what we believed, we had been used in the last election. had our calons, we knew of the Election Commission, This is cheating, an insult to de- consistent and important work the What Are You Doing? mocracy, an insult to Malaysians. calons had done in the years pre- Dismal media coverage greeted viously. We were together, we Meanwhile back at the Bilik the book launch. were smiling and we had hope. Gerakan, plans were made for who should be where on Polling Day. One night, outside our Bilik We nominated, we cheered, we got Experience told us that we needed Gerakan, we had a Ceramah

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 22 Perdana. As mentioned, the BN “Keadilan Untuk Semua”. Four dif- The calons bravely addressed the Bilik Gerakan, set up a few doors ferent messages, tied to stalls, to crowd who had gathered. There away from ours, also planned to lamp posts, to cars, to was not much one could say. They stage a cultural show (by coinci- motorcycles,to people ….. Every- thanked the supporters for their dence, of course), full of songs and one loved them, wanted them, hard work. The elections were over dances. This needed loud music. came back for more. One child but the service centre would remain And when I say loud, I mean, stood solemnly for a long time be- open as it has always been for peo- LOUD.LOUDLOUD hind his mother’s legs waiting for ple to come. The calons would con- a red balloon. And when he fi- tinue to serve the people as prom- Our sound system was good, a nally got one I asked him what ised, elected or otherwise. credit to our soundperson. But the this balloon was for and he very BN’s sound system was …..unbe- shyly whispered “dok-tor- cha- …But The Struggle lievable. And somehow, their enor- ya-koo-ma”. Should we lower the Continues mous speakers seemed to be point- voting age? ing in our direction. Our ceramah And the next day, when I returned speakers valiantly tried to address Polling day. to the Bilik Gerakan to finish off the the crowd. It was ridiculous. Sud- Results. Tears work, there were the youngsters, denly at 9 pm, fireworks were let removing posters and ready for off! You could not hear yourself As the results came in, I had a work. Having confessed that some think. WHHEEEEE, CRASH, tightness in my throat. Together of them went home and cried the BANG, BOOM! The BN’s contri- the youngsters and I recorded the night before, they were back the bution to democratic thought. incoming results from the Borang next day ready to do what was 14 forms collected from the vari- necessary. The noise eventually stopped ous polling stations. leaving a stunned silence. And It was a miracle that the lorry quick as a flash, our little They were silent. Some blinked stopped an inch from the drain. PowerPoint production went into back tears. But they kept record- The election has left the opposi- action – to the tune of Mission ing. When it got too much, some tion an inch from the drain. Very, Impossible. Our crowd of over a left the room, others came in. A very down, but not out. There are thousand people broke out into short while later I felt the calon’s voices that will be heard in Par- applause and laughter. Yes, it was hand on my shoulder. We went liament. And there are many, an impossible situation but PSM through the results briefly. He left many Malaysians who will con- had the hearts of the people. the room to talk with the people tinue, every day, to work to right who had gathered. The mood was wrongs, to fight for justice, to The crowd erupted in enormous sombre. struggle with those without a cheering for our calons. Despite the voice - including those in Sg Siput BN ‘entertainment’, the crowd My heart was heavy, not just for the who had campaigned so bravely swelled at the PSM Bilik Gerakan. calons, but for all the people who against such odds. Our ceramah continued. And all sincerely believed that change was this while, the police were there possible, that something different We have seen that it is possible to at the back of the crowd, in their could happen in Sg Siput - for all motivate, mobilise and inspire trucks with their helmets and ba- the people we met on the streets, people to work for change. This is tons ready to move ‘if necessary’. who came up to the calons and a reality no one can take away. Unfortunately they had their shook their hands; for all those who The struggle for democracy, jus- backs to the ones who really prayed that decency and honesty tice and human rights carries on. needed locking up. was the way forward; for all those While it is a challenge to us all, who believed that money politics we do not have to wait for another As the week moved on, balloons could be fought. five years. We can start right now. appeared. Balloons? Balloons. “Undilah Dr Kumar”; “Undilah But the reality was that the rakyat Let’s get that lorry moving uphill Segar”; “Mana Duit Maika?” and decided otherwise. again…... q

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 23 ELECTION 2004 “Witch-Hunting”: Un-Democratic Behaviour The BN govt must not discriminate against non-sympathisers by Charles Hector

meaning of democracy.

Witch-Hunt In Terengganu?

Idris Jusoh, who won by a major- ity of 2,047 votes only, whereby his opponent from PAS had obtained 4,466 votes, immediately after the swearing in as the Menteri Besar of Terengganu hastily abolished the People’s Consultative Committee(JSR) introduced by PAS during its four-year reign. New Terengganu Mentri Besar, Datuk Idris Jusoh with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi About 400 members of the JSR were affected by this move. here is an election. Can- their differences and work to- (Malaysiakini, 25 Mar 2004). TT didates offer themselves gether for the good and benefit of TTT as wakil rakyat (peoples’ all the people in the country/state In Malaysiakini, 30 Mar 2004, it representatives). The – yes, for the good and benefit of was reported that there also oc- people (the registered voters only) all the people and not just for the curred the “sacking en masse of come out and cast their votes good of those who supported and some 400 staff of the Unit choosing their representatives. or voted for them. The losing can- Pembangunan Insan and its di- The candidates who gather the didates are also part of these peo- rector Ismail Osman.”. Also fired majority or plurality of votes win. ple whom the victors must now were Syariah court chief judge Dr By reason of the first-past-the- represent in Parliament and/or Abdullah Abu Bakar, deputy state post system, the victors, then be- the State Legislative Assembly. mufti Zainal Abidin Ahmad, Sul- come the wakil rakyat, and if the The victors must remember that tan Zainal Abidin Islamic College leader of the party enjoys the sup- their duty and responsibility is director Assoc Prof. Anuar Zainal port of the majority of the elected towards all the people - not just Abidin and the Yayasan representatives, then s/he is cho- their party members, their finan- Terengganu director Yusof Tahir. sen to form the government of ciers and donors during the elec- The new Menteri Besar’s expla- Malaysia and/or the government tions, or their supporters. If the nation was that ‘their contracts of the States. victors forget this and discrimi- had to be terminated because they nate against their opponents and had clearly sided with the PAS Once elected, the victors and the their opponents’ supporters, then government and would ruin losing candidates must put aside the victors have forgotten the true Barisan Nasional’s (BN) agenda

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 24 thought out and critically teachers lose their jobs. This is analyzed action. This is wrong for absurd. people who are public servants will lose their jobs, and their chil- Politicians and political parties dren’s education could be af- must realize this and must be able fected. There should have been se- to distinguish between what are rious study done to determine political appointees and mere whether these PAS-created struc- public servants. If certain posi- tures, these PAS-government ini- tions, after serious study, are to be tiated schools are good for the dismantled, then the State has the people of Terengganu. It is wrong obligation to provide alternative for this BN Menteri Besar to just jobs to those ‘retrenched’. reject anything and everything just because it was done during I hope that this Menteri Besar now New MB's words go against the very the PAS’s term of government. does not go out there and start dis- essence of democracy. criminating against the 4,466 vot- Political Appointees ers who voted for his opponent, and planning if not stopped.’ In Or Public Servants? and the remaining tens of thou- my opinion, this is odd and fool- sands who did not vote for the BN ish reasoning. It has been stated that these offic- by depriving them of government ers “clearly sided with the PAS aid, scholarships, subsidies and In the report, it was also men- government and would ruin other assistance. For if he does so, tioned that teachers in Sekolah Barisan Nasional’s (BN) agenda this man does not understand the Menengah Agama Sains and planning if not stopped…” essence of our democracy and he Terengganu and Sekolah Rendah How does the Menteri Besar know should be removed from his post Agama Bersepadu had been given this? Have they done anything to as Menteri Besar. verbal notice that their services date that ‘ruined’ the BN agenda may be terminated. It must be and planning for the Terengganu Serve Without noted that Sekolah Menengah people? Mere speculation of pos- Discrimination Agama Sains was established by sible future actions is not a good the Terengganu State government enough justification for the termi- Once elected, the BN government after the federal government chose nation of employment and the dis- of the day must not discriminate to close two MARA Junior Science mantling of schools and commu- against those that did not support Colleges in Terengganu in Octo- nity-based structures created by the BN. For if it does do so, then it ber 2002. So, what is going to hap- the previous government. might as well abolish all political pen to the students in these parties and the general elections schools, and to the teachers and It is sad, and rather embarrassing, and erase democracy from Malay- staff? that this new MB is saying and sia. How can you tell people to doing such things as these actions chose – and then discriminate Keep The Good and words go against the very es- against them because they did ex- To Benefit People sence of democracy. The role and ercise ‘correctly’ this right of responsibilities of an elected gov- choice. All these termination and verbal ernment towards its people - not notices have been done relatively just the BN supporters, but all the Elections came, the majority have hastily, and it affects people who people of Terengganu - have been spoken through their votes, so now are not political appointees but forgotten. you who have been chosen as the mere public servants. The speed peoples’ representatives and/or as by which these actions were taken Imagine if another party took over the government, must go forth and (and/or decisions made) could the Federal Government, then be the representatives of the peo- reasonably be said to be an emo- within five days, the most senior ple, and must govern the people tional reaction, rather that a well public servants are removed and with justice and fairness. q

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 25 ELECTION 2004 Retaining The State Seat Of Machang Bubuk

An analysis at close hand by Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon

efore the November 1999 general election, I, the BBB incumbent Barisan Nasional representative for the State Legislative Assembly constituency of Machang Bubuk, Penang, considered that the posi- tion of the constituency had changed.

From being ‘safe’ for the BN in 1995, Machang Bubuk had be- come ‘marginal’ in 1999.

The principal reason was, the Malay voters (34% of total voters) in the constituency would remain loyal to Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim and vote for Parti Keadilan Nasional (Keadilan). over 5,000 voters (80% Chinese, Machang Bubuk. The number of A Single Shift 8% Malay and 12% Indian), to voters was 22,548 in 1999 but only the neighbouring state constitu- 19,356 in 2003. I managed to retain my seat in ency of Berapit. 1999. Yet it seemed to me, before The ethnic composition of the vot- the 2004 general election, that The Election Commission did ers changed considerably for Machang Bubuk had become even nothing else to the constituency. what was left of Machang Bubuk more ‘marginal’! However, that single shift was po- constituency. Before redelinea- tentially critical. In 1999, BN won tion, there were 34.1% Malay vot- This was chiefly due to the con- Taman Alma with a majority of ers, 56.7% Chinese voters and stituency redelineation exercise 1037 votes – half the overall ma- 9.2% Indian voters. After conducted by the Election Com- jority of 2,059. redelineation, the proportions mission in 2000. The were: 40.3% Malay, 50.8% Chinese redelineation of Machang Of course, Taman Alma’s excision and 8.9% Indian. Bubuk shifted its entire polling reduced the geographical expanse district of Taman Alma, with and voting population of Technically, based on the 1999 re-

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 26 sults and ethnic voting patterns, BN now faced a reduction of its majority from 2,059 votes to only — 1,072 1,022. Assuming the Malay vot- 4,6334,633 4,6334,633 4,633 ChangeChange ChangeChange Change MajorityMajority MajorityMajority Majority ers continued to support (1999 – 2004) (1999 – 2004) (1999 – 2004) (1999 – 2004) (1999 – 2004) Keadilan, a swing of just over 500 votes to Keadilan would lose BN the Machang Bubuk seat. 5,6555,655 5,6555,655 1,5561,320 688 + + 1,241 660 + 5,655 MajorityMajority MajorityMajority Majority Strange Shifts! %% %% % As it turned out, BN won the 2004 31.431.4 31.431.4 36.7 37023.1 29.5 472 + 38.023.2 242 327 + 34.9 239 289 + 31.4 contest with a convincing major- ity of 5,655 votes! 20042004 20042004 2004 KeadilanKeadilan KeadilanKeadilan Keadilan 4,7554,755 4,7554,755 4,755 ValidValid ValidValid Valid VotesVotes VotesVotes Votes That figure was more than twice the 1999 majority before redelineation, or more than five %% %% % 68.668.6 68.668.6 47.1 81369.0 52.976.9 616 667 -89 31.0 581 + 7 5 3 + 535 70.5 953 62.076.8 382 5 3 7 68.6 92.6 2times 7.4 the majority 2 3 for 9 + Machang Bubuk without Taman Alma. The BN’s share of total valid votes rose BarisanBarisan BarisanBarisan Barisan NasionalNasional NasionalNasional Nasional to 68.6% from 56% in 1999. 1,369 2,223 2,273 1,778 ValidValid ValidValid Valid VotesVotes VotesVotes Votes 10,41010,410 10,41010,410 10,410

In 1999, BN had lost in all polling districts that had a Malay major- -102 879 63.3 509 2,0592,059 2,0592,059 1,037 Redelineated to BERAPIT — — 2,059 ity. Last month, BN won in all Majority Majority Majority Majority Majority Majority such polling districts except Cerok To’kun, Anwar Ibrahim’s %% %% % home village. On the whole, BN 44.044.0 44.044.0 74.054.0 -67044.233.3 724 218 868 44.6 248 54.7 -85 624 53.236.6 -50 515 65.1 276 44.0 obtained 60% of the Malay votes in Machang Bubuk, compared KeadilanKeadilan KeadilanKeadilan Keadilan General Election 1999 and 2004 General Election 1999 and 2004 General Election 1999 and 2004 General Election 1999 and 2004 General Election 1999 and 2004 with only 44% in 1999. 19991999 19991999 1999 1033 7,5727,572 7,5727,572 1,424 7,572 ValidValid ValidValid Valid VotesVotes VotesVotes Votes The BN’s share of votes also in- creased from about 65% in 1999 %% %% % 56.056.0 56.056.0 26.0 66.7 866 46.0 676 45.3 492 46.8 420 63.4 56.0 to about 75% in 2004 in predomi- nantly Chinese and Indian poll- ing districts. Simultaneously, the BarisanBarisan BarisanBarisan Barisan NasionalNasional NasionalNasional Nasional

1 5 -majorities 1 in such -districts 1 4(Alma 2 5 3 6 3 4 0 7 3 7 0 Results by Polling District, Machang Bubuk State Constituency, Penang Results by Polling District, Machang Bubuk State Constituency, Penang Results by Polling District, Machang Bubuk State Constituency, Penang Results by Polling District, Machang Bubuk State Constituency, Penang Results by Polling District, Machang Bubuk State Constituency, Penang 9,6319,631 9,6319,631 1,0421,734 55.8 824 1,268 55.4 1,020 1,397 63.1 816 36.9 581 2,461 9,631 ValidValid ValidValid Valid VotesVotes VotesVotes Votes and Permatang Tinggi, for exam- ple), as well as ethnically mixed districts (such as Taman Seri Kijang and Bukit Teh), rose quite significantly.

In short, the Machang Bubuk con- test featured a strong shift of elec- toral support back to BN, a shift that was felt nationwide at both Polling District Polling District TOTALTOTAL TOTALTOTAL Polling District TO’KUN TOTAL Polling District Polling District parliamentary and state assembly

. levels. No.No. No.No. 1 No. 2 . MACHANG BUBUK3 . BUKIT TEH 4. ALMA 5 7 4 5 . TAMAN SRI KIJANG 6. BUKIT MINYAK 7. PERMATANG TINGGI 8. GAJAH MATI 9. TAMAN ALMA 1 0 . POS UNDI

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 27 ment.

For Machang Bubuk spe- cifically, there was one other major cause for Keadilan’s poorer per- formance. Keadilan showed an almost total absence of election ma- chinery while the Keadilan candidate hardly campaigned!

Back To A Safe Future?

His amiable character and moderate Islamic stance were influential. For the BN, the prospects for future elections in Reasons And Factors Against all that, the ‘Anwar Machang Bubuk are good, at least Ibrahim factor’, so critical in for the state seat. This forecast as- Many psephologists have offered arousing sympathy and support sumes that Malay voters have ‘re- their reasons for this shift. If valid, for the Opposition in 1999, had turned to UMNO’s fold’ and non- the reasons apply as much to been much diluted. Malay support is largely stable. Machang Bubuk. In Machang Bubuk, little remained But the accuracy of any elec- The first was the ‘feelgood’ factor of the impact of previously strong toral forecast is dependent upon generated by some of Prime Min- preceptions that state power had many dynamic factors. These ister Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad been unfairly used to annihilate factors include the performance Badawi’s initiatives. His declared Anwar’s political career and of the BN government at the intentions to wipe out corruption, struggle. It was notable that Federal and State levels over the improve the delivery of public Keadilan’s majority in the polling next few years, the extent to services, enhance educational area of Cerok To’kun fell to 89 in which electoral promises are standards, and re-emphasize ag- 2204 from 670 in 1999. fulfilled, and, of course, the per- ricultural and rural development formance of the State Assembly helped to inspire confidence in the The tendency of urban (non- representative. Yet one new administration. Malay) voters to split their votes shouldn’t discount new chal- between supporting ‘BN for the lenges posed by the Opposition, Economically, good prices for pri- state’ and ‘Opposition for parlia- or, for that matter, the impact of mary commodities such as palm ment’ helped the BN state assem- electoral reforms. q oil, rubber and cocoa raised rural bly candidate for Machang incomes momentarily, while pros- Bubuk. In contrast, the BN parlia- pects of a cyclical upturn in the mentary candidate lost in Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon, of electronics sector fed into the Machang Bubuk to his DAP op- Parti Gerakan Rakyat, has ‘feelgood’ environment. ponent. been the Machang Bubuk State Legislative Assembly The Prime Minister’s amiable This split, much less pronounced representative and a mem- character and moderate Islamic among Malay voters, was influ- ber of the Penang State Ex- stance were influential since they enced by a desire both for ecutive Council for three endeared him to many voters, in- ‘developmentalism’ at state and consecutive terms. cluding those once disgruntled local levels, as well as for a with BN. stronger opposition in Parlia-

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 28 ELECTION 2004 Back To The Future? The BN has reshaped Sabah politics to its desires; now it must deliver on its side of the bargain by G Lim

his election saw Sabah half the votes cast, the opposition from UPKO. Having won the seat, hold its state and federal thus threw what small chances he is already stating that he will TTT level elections concur- they had to the wind. Had they apply to rejoin UMNO. rently for the first time. better been able to come to agree- It was also the first time since be- ment, they might even have Similarly, the LDP has claimed fore the 1990 general election that claimed the scalp of two former that its loss to an independent in the party which has dominated CMs – Chong Kah Kiat and the federal Sandakan seat was the Sabah politics for nigh on two Bernard Dompok – who were ‘work of a Barisan component decades – Joseph Pairin among those lucky minority-vote party’ (The Star, 24 March 2004). Kitingan’s Parti Bersatu Sabah winners. The independent candidate in (PBS) – had contested the election question had indeed been a mem- as a BN coalition member. The Disillusionment ber of Gerakan for almost twenty prospect of a BN-PBS alliance in years before resigning from the Sabah left little space for the op- Disillusionment with the organ- party earlier this month. position, and few commentators ised opposition in Sabah is clearly expected anything less than a very high. The combined vote re- In Ranau, UPKO boss Bernard clean sweep. ceived by the opposition candi- Dompok scraped home with less dates at both the state and federal than half the vote against a field The BN indeed swept Sabah, even levels was less than the votes re- of three independents, at least two winning nine state and five par- ceived by independent candi- of whom were recent members of liamentary seats without conten- dates. Independents won one fed- other BN parties. When one takes tion on nomination day. But it was eral seat – Sandakan – and one all this into account, it may be not quite a clean sweep, for it lost state seat – Kuala Penyu – whilst concluded that the number of one parliamentary and one state the opposition parties won noth- votes cast for candidates actually seat. In both elections, it won just ing. In fact, the number of inde- opposing the BN – whether for under two-thirds of the votes cast. pendent candidates was stagger- party candidates or for independ- The election in Sabah, however, ing – 68 compared to the total of ents – may have been as low as was not just the story of the suc- 64 opposition party candidates at twenty per cent. cess of the BN, but also the com- the state level. plete failure of the opposition. For a state often accused of a As in Sarawak, the fielding of in- degree of parochialism, it is From nomination day onwards dependent candidates in Sabah is interesting to note that the na- this was clear. Disagreement often linked to internal BN poli- tionwide opposition parties – among the parties led to a situa- tics. The supposed ‘independent’ DAP, Keadilan and PAS – per- tion where thirteen seats were con- who won the Kuala Penyu state formed far better than the tested by more than one opposi- constituency, for instance, is a Sabah-only opposition parties tion party, but fifteen were con- former UMNO member who re- (see Table 1). Since UMNO’s tested by none at all. With the BN signed from the party to contest first entry into Sabah a decade winning five seats on less than against the official BN candidate ago, the ‘Westernisation’ of

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 29 which per- With the election won, UMNO has Table 11Table suaded the PBS already dismantled the last of its Percentage Of Votes to seek re-entry concessions to the ‘old’ politics of Won In Sabah under any terms. Sabah, by scrapping the rotating If 1994 was the chief ministership. The BN, and Federal State start of the BN’s UMNO in particular, are now in BN 64.3 63.7 attempt to re- control, and they see no potential Independents 21.2 22.6 mould Sabah challengers to whom such conces- politics, 1999 sions are necessary. Opposition 14.5 13.7 gave it the popu- Sabah-based 0.9 4.4 lar mandate nec- From 1976 until 1985, Sabah was Semenanjung-based 13.6 9.3 essary to con- governed by perhaps the most tinue, and 2004 successfully multiracial party in saw it finally im- the history of the BN – Parti Sabah politics has proceeded posing the new political schema Berjaya. Led by its Muslim Chief apace. on Sabah. Minister Harris Salleh, Berjaya for a long time maintained high UMNO Dominance With the election in the bag from popularity amongst all the ethnic the outset, the real question at the groups of Sabah, mainly through The best way to understand the state level was always going to be its heavy emphasis on develop- current Sabah state election is to in the distribution of seats among ment. Today, Sabah appears to put it in historical context. In the BN components, and thus the have returned to a similar pattern 1994, when the BN was trying to political weighting of the new of politics, only with an increas- wrest control of Sabah from the administration. By allotting itself ingly Semenanjung-style BN coa- then opposition PBS, the federal over half the seats to contest, 32 lition replacing the unitary government promised a Sabah out of 60, UMNO ensured its con- Berjaya party. In essence, however, Baru, should it win. The PBS nar- tinued dominance of the state leg- the deal is the same: that Sabah’s rowly won that election, but a islature and thus its continued non-Muslim majority accept po- spate of defections quickly saw possession of the chief minister- litical under-respresentation – in- the assembly fall into BN control. ship. Parties representing the cluding a Muslim CM – in return As promised, development funds non-Muslim Bumiputera commu- for development. soon started pouring in. nity received only one third of the BN nominations, with the remain- The 2004 election results show But having won control of the as- der going to the Chinese-based that, at least for the moment, this sembly in the most dubious of cir- parties. approach is again highly popu- cumstances, and fearful still of the lar in Sabah. But the state remains PBS’ popularity, the BN had to Semenanjung-Style one of the poorest in the country, make a series of concessions. and the BN would do well to bear Most important here was the im- Perhaps one of the most interest- in mind the speed with which plementation of a rotating chief ing but un-noticed aspects of the Berjaya fell from grace. The BN ministership, designed to assuage BN allocation was the one state has reshaped Sabah politics to its the fears of the non-Muslims that seat allocated to the MCA, which desires; now it must deliver on its they would be marginalised as it won, but with less than half the side of the bargain, and ensure they perceived they had been dur- votes cast against a field of three genuine prosperity for all ing the early 1980s. independents and four opposi- Sabahans. q tion party candidates. This was The first real test of the Sabah Baru the first time the MCA was al- mandate came in the March 1999 lowed to contest in Sabah. This G Lim is a post-doctoral state elections, which the BN won can perhaps be read as a further fellow specialising in convincingly, even at the height indication of the BN’s desire to Malaysian politics based of the reformasi movement. It ap- bring West Malaysian politics to in a UK university. pears to have been that result Sabah.

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 30 ELECTION 2004

Views From The Public

Congratulations 4. They created more election ar- men and women; they diverted BN For A Job eas to ensure the opposition their attention while they did “ Well Done”! were divided and not function- their groundwork to move the ing at all. excess votes into opposition I would like to take this areas to wipe them out perma- oppurtunity to congratulate 5. They used the massive funds nently. Mr.Nice Guy, and his team for a at their disposal to ensure to- job well done. tal victory and to wipe out the Anyway Mr.Nice Guy, since it was opposition. They used the SPR a well done job; my congrats to Here are my observations and to transfer and move in and out you, and your team for a job well comments: voters who were voting for the done. opposition or they made them 1 . In 1999, they removed regis- go missing or unlisted or Abdul Wahab tered voters from the list before moved them to a strong BN national elections with the area. Check And help of SPR. I was an unlucky Balance Needed one, who had the printout of 6. Large numbers of voters sud- my registration confirmed, and denly appeared on all opposi- I find myself wholly disappointed found that my registration had tion front areas or areas that by the general election results, but disappered from the SPR reg- were critical for the survival of then the outcome was not a big istered list before I could cast certain individuals. surprise. Malaysians appear un- my vote. willing to ask the kinds of ques- 7. Voter forms were carefully tions that they should never cease 2. They moved in and settled in identified with traceable com- to ask. Foremost is the importance people from other areas to puter-read out and numbers of checks and balances in a de- opposition front areas and for traceability. Note that trace- mocracy. registered multiple voters in ability and identification are one location.This was vital for the survival of a rul- Malaysia has too few in its planned after their major de- ing party, as they know the democractic system and, of those, feat in 1999. (good planning number of opposition voters they are mostly ineffective. The - please watch out for areas and individual groups in a cer- most glaring is the lack of a strong where they move in people tain area, so they can move enough opposition to keep the from other areas to areas that them out if and when needed. ruling elite in check and account- are in dissent.) This was what happened in able to the people. For, when the Selangor, which went into a opposition is ineffective, those in 3. I believe they forced or coerced yoyo, recently. power have little or no fear of in- segments of the army and po- curring the people’s wrath. That lice and the civil servants of 8. They used the media, TV, and would, in turn, make abuse of severe repercussions if they adverts to brainwash most power and self-enrichment all the voted the opposition. people into zombies or yes- more attractive or tempting.

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 31 Thus, while the gullible applaud step down, not thicken his skin perspective... the landslide victory attained by and stay on when even the BN the BN, the wise grieve and brace seems irritated with his “wonder- The opposition lost, but many themselves for more corruption ful” handling of the election. In- voted for them too, just not the and further mismanagement of stead of accepting full majority. This is not because the the economy. responsibilty and keeping to his majority live in fear; its because principles (like Kerk Kim Hock), they are as yet unconvinced by the The great Indian poet Mohamad he passes the buck to of all peo- opposition. Iqbal once said to the effect that ple, the printers?? Don’t you have democracy to the ignorant is like checks of any sort? The opposition need to spend a rose to a donkey (or something more time convincing the people to the effect). Neither are capable But then again, what principles? of their plus points instead of con- of appreciating their essence. vincing the people of the BN’s EJ of Klang negative points.. Disillusioned Dumb, Low-Class Farah Aziz Media Frenzy Banners And Posters Divide And Rule Yes, perhaps the people are igno- I think all of us should take pic- rant of the glaring fact that we do tures of the dumb low-class ban- It does appear that the tactic of not have an effective opposition ners and posters insulting the “divide and rule” is apparent presence in Malaysia.But then opposition along Jalan Imbi, here, resulting in polarisation, again, how can they be otherwise? Kuala Lumpur starting from the dissension and general disunity With much resources in hand, the traffic junction near Times Square among the voters. In hindsight BN proceeded to go on a frenzy onwards. Post them on the and seeing from the outside, ...a huge media blitz discrediting Internet with an English transla- Malaysian politics will always be and painting a bleak picture of the tion and show the world just how one of mockery. Instead of foster- opposition leaders. Of course, silly and shallow these cheap idi- ing a “Malaysian Malaysia” tran- that’s perfectly legal for the otic tactics practised by the ‘highly scending all barriers of race, col- Barisan, right? popular and balanced’ are. our, creed and belief in a truly democratic way, “communal poli- What Barisan leaders do for the PO tics” will always rule the day! rakyat is publicised heavily, even Bigger Outlook something as little as a visit to an Whatever happened to the high Needed old folks’ home. But those who ideals of promoting ADMO (A move in the background, unsung Hmmm... Direct Membership Organisation) heroes on the other side, are Vote for BN = fearful, ignorant, - a non-communal professional hardly featured, apart from the oc- media-controlled citizens. group that was initiated in the casional “I’ll-feature-you-out-of- 70s? context” media coverage. Vote for the Opposition = good, freedom-loving, morally superior Malaysia must grow up and not In the name of preserving peace, new Malaysians... grow old with all its traditional avenues for speaking out are communal ways. closed down one by one. There Sounds pretty close-minded to can be no real peace unless we me... An Observer know real justice. You need a bigger outlook on life... Is Your Vote Secret? Discredited, dishonoured and when you believe in something so shamed, the SPR chairman should much, you start looking without I thought it is illegal to have the

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 32 ballot papers marked, no?

This (ballot papers being marked) Bar Supports is one of the reasons many gov- ernment servants and even uni- An Independent versity students dare not vote for the opposition for fear of their be- Commission Of Enquiry ing traced. Unfair! This practice of marking the papers is very election purposes. wrong and should be stopped. These concerns must be Lucia promptly investigated and ad- dressed. The Bar Council sup- No wonder my friends are so an- ports the calls, made by both gry and they are not willing to ruling and opposition parties, vote at that moment. for an independent Commis- sion of Enquiry to be set up to What is ‘rahsia’? What does that investigate these matters. This mean? Pencil…well, they think Commission should be man- that we are small kids (who) need dated with wide and adequate guidance so that our choice can Arising out of the recently con- terms of reference, comprise be erased anytime they want. cluded general elections, the members of credibility and ac- Bar Council notes the high ceptability to all quarters, carry Why are we not allowed to use a number of complaints (from out its investigations in an pen (for marking the ballot pa- individual voters, candidates open and transparent manner, pers)? As I am a first-time voter this and political parties of all per- and make public its findings time, I brought along my PEN. I was suasions) regarding the super- and recommendations. This is confused - why couldn’t I use my vision and management by the the only acceptable way to ad- own pen? People, OPEN your eyes Election Commission of the dress concerns of such impor- and see what’s going on. elections. These complaints in- tance and magnitude in a clude the use of 2 different elec- democratic society. An internal toral rolls in some cases, vot- investigation within the Elec- Chris ers whose names were not tion Commission, as suggested found on the relevant rolls, the by some, will be no satisfactory Well, too bad we are on ‘the other Sg Lembing fiasco where mis- answer. side’ of the ‘law; probably we prints occurred on ballot pa- should bend the rules, they give pers, the highly questionable Free and fair elections are a pencils, we bring pens, etc. extension of voting hours an- pre-requisite to a credible de- nounced at the last minute for mocracy. In light of the nature The only way to raise an issue is polling stations in Selangor, and number of complaints that to complain, complain, complain and so on. have surfaced, only a transpar- until the cows come home.” ent and independent audit In addition, questions concern- will meet the demands of cred- Eventually they will submit when ing the efficiency and true inde- ibility and legitimacy in a they are sick and tired of hearing pendence of the Election Com- democratic Malaysia. our pleas. Or will they turn a deaf mission have been raised, e.g in ear? Let’s all be vocal and voice relation to the monitoring of the Hj Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari our dissatisfaction.” use and abuse of the media and Chairman, Bar Council governmental machineries for 3 April 2004 Kurang Asam

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 33 Stop This Scandalous Campaign Through Deceit And Lies

The Barisan Nasional will win - there is no doubt about it. But it will be a victory won with- out honour; it will be a victory secured through deceit and lies.

Both the Prime Minister and his Deputy promised to conduct a gentlemanly election, without slandering anyone and with- A record of Aliran'sAliran'sAliran's stand on current affairs. out being personal. What we have witnessed thus far is a shocking disregard for truth Manufacturing “Riots” BN. An element of fear and and ethics. To Intimidate Voters? intimidation is being deliber- ately injected into the run-up KeADILan banners were taken Aliran is shocked to learn that to the general election. down by the Election Commis- “large-scale riots and chaos” sion for no apparent reason. will be enacted by the police If indeed there is a need to The EC seems to be waging a as part of their training in the prepare for “all eventuali- fight against the opposition on run-up to the general election. ties”, wouldn’t good plan- behalf of the BN. The justifica- This two-day affair would in- ning demand that this sort of tion for the removal of the ban- volve 1,400 personnel drawn preparation be an ongoing ners was not only laughable from various agencies includ- exercise so that the police are but it was downright asinine. ing the Federal Reserve Unit. in a state of preparedness at all times? There is no need to Huge billboards scream that a It is difficult to believe that the give wide publicity to such vote for the DAP is a vote for police have hit upon this bril- routine exercises as it will PAS. This is really a scandal- liant idea quite suddenly. This only create fear among the ous and dishonest statement, whole exercise is clearly or- people unnecessarily and sug- lacking in integrity and expos- chestrated to benefit the gest that imminent danger is ing a bankruptcy in ideas. In- Barisan Nasional. It is being in the offing. stead of taking on the DAP on held, as it were, on the eve of issues, lies are being spun to the 11th general election and Aliran condemns in the strong- mislead the voters. has been given wide publicity est terms this so-called mock through a Bernama news item exercise as a mockery and calls The DAP and PAS have been on 25 February. upon the Home Affairs Minis- at loggerheads and have been ter, who also happens to be the going for each other’s throats Roping in the police as part of newly annointed Prime Minis- ever since they parted com- the BN’s apparatus to ensure ter, to cancel this exercise in in- pany more than two years ago. “a resounding victory” (which timidation and fear. This parting was greeted by the BN leaders have been the BN gleefully claiming that bleating about lately) is an ob- P Ramakrishnan the opposition was in shambles vious strategy to browbeat the President and that they were greatly electorate into voting for the 26 February 2004 weakened. How then is any

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 34 cial report on the chaos in polling in Selangor to the government re- moves all pretence of the EC’s in- dependence. Can he give any sen- sible reason why this report has to be given only to the govern- ment?

The failure to conduct a free and fair election is the concern of every citizen. We want to know what went wrong. Every candidate who participated needs to know. Every political party is entitled to this relationship between DAP and Rahman doesn’t seem to realise report. It should be made public. PAS now possible? that he is not a government serv- ant beholden to the government. In the elections, the Commission The Prime Minister has been His conduct should be such that is the referee and it is expected to dubbed as Mr Clean. This Mr he enjoys public confidence. behave in an impartial manner. It Clean has stated that the 11th gen- appears that it is not capable of eral election will be clean. In the He must be aware that the Com- living up to its obligation and dis- light of what is taking place - ab- mission cannot be interfered with charging its responsibility in a solutely unbecoming conduct by by Government and that is why manner that would bestow cred- the BN - Datuk Seri Abdullah the Constitution provides that “a ibility on its conduct. Ahmad Badawi has not con- member may not be removed from demned this action nor has he office except on the like grounds He should get out of his govern- commented on it. He has chosen and in the like manner as a judge”. ment servant mentality and do to remain silent. This doesn’t And yet he is not conscious of the honour to the Constitution that is speak well for his much-pro- dignity of his position but comes responsible for the Commission’s claimed clean image. across as a confused person. existence. He is beholden to the citizens of this country to act with- He has a responsibility to speak He is absolutely lost in his job. out fear or favour. This is what is up on this issue. Silence is cer- Following the brickbats that the expected of him. tainly not an option. He will do EC received as a result of the un- well to adhere to the saying, “You believable fiasco on polling day This special report should be are not only responsible for what in various parts of the country, made public. Every voter and can- you say, but also for what you do especially in Selangor, he on his didate in the recent election has a not say.” own suggested the setting up of right to know the contents of this an independent commission to report. Only then it can be veri- P Ramakrishnan investigate this disaster. But the fied how truthful the findings are President moment the Prime Minister men- and what has been glossed over. 20 March 2004 tioned that there was no need for one, he immediately changed his Anything short of this will be un- Election Commission tune and echoed the Prime Minis- becoming of an independent in- Not Beholden ter. Where is his independence of stitution and will stand out as a To The Government thought or action? national shame.

Election Commission chairman His recent ludicrous statement Aliran Executive Committee Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul that the EC would submit its spe- 6 April 2004

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 35 THE PAK LAH FACTOR Continued from page 40

Anwar also has his appeal with ing style of leadership. double track rail project, one of the youth but in a way that was several of Mahathir’s pet mega- not entirely of his own choosing. The BN thus used Abdullah as projects, surprised those who When he was sacked, dramati- their best weapon in their election thought he would merely be cally arrested, beaten up by the campaign—their charm offensive Mahathir’s double. The local and chief of police while in jail, found - with pictures only of him in post- foreign media quickly opined that guilty of trumped-up charges, ers and advertisements. he did not share Mahathir’s pen- many young people felt as though Abdullah also distanced himself chant for mega-projects. their own ideals were assaulted from Mahathir and did not seek Abdullah stoked that idea by talk- by the injustice done to him. They him out even to pose for pictures ing about projects for smaller busi- ness instead of Mahathir’s mil- lionaires.

Abdullah was quick to signal his interest in upgrading the agricul- tural sector, something not part of Mahathir’s focus, in order to make it more globally competitive. This also allowed him to say he was concerned with helping the rural poor. Anwar used to find ways here and there within Mahathir’s industrialization program to ad- dress the rural poor. But Abdullah holds out the promise of a greater ability and commitment to do Many young people felt as though their own ideals were assaulted by more. the injustice done to Anwar. Abdullah also presented himself tried to respond by peacefully tak- for the media when campaigning as deeply religious. He is for a ing to the streets in protest, but in Mahathir’s home state of moderate, progressive Islam and they also felt frustrated by the Kedah. Many who had problems seemed turned off by shouting many laws and restrictions cut- with the BN government con- matches with PAS leaders to see ting off their voice and action. fessed to being fine with whose views - UMNO’s or PAS’ - Anwar’s youths have a serious Abdullah. And members of the offered a truer Islam. Or who sense of mission, to fight for jus- opposition refrained from target- could more quickly turn the coun- tice and fairness and set Anwar ing their criticism at him, except try into an Islamic state. This was free again. PAS President Hadi Awang, who unlike Mahathir, who tried to accused him of lacking Islamic outdo PAS by once declaring Ma- And so, Abdullah is able to project credentials. laysia was already an Islamic something not seen since argu- state under his BN government. ably Mahathir became prime min- Tantalising initiatives Thus when Abdullah was ister in 1981. He is gentle where slammed by Hadi for lacking Is- Mahathir was abrasive. He is But the Pak Lah factor is not all lamic credentials, he refused to “cool” where the sacked and image. It is also grounded in the respond to what he called char- jailed Anwar is (understandably) form of a few carefully considered acter assassination. incensed. His gentle demeanour “initiatives” that tantalised and and soft, shy smile drew many, in even shocked the public. More Initiatives particular the Malays in the heart- land, to look forward to his sooth- Abdullah’s cancellation of the Yet another of Abdullah’s “initia-

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 36 tives” was the way he engaged tration who used to be close to and projected the Pak Lah factor with Singapore leaders, bearing in Mahathir, shocked many and and whipped it into a palpable mind the relationship between the made them stand up and cheer. sentiment pervading the two countries has been fraught This was followed by the arrest of Malaysian consciousness. Adver- with contentious issues. So far, Land and Co-operative Develop- tising agencies were also engaged the cordial meetings between ment Minister Kasitah Gaddam. by the BN to offer a new way of them have been so different from Unlike in the past decade or more, selling in Malaysian politics. the acrimonious ones during Malaysians began to entertain the They used the “soft” sell to remind Mahathir’s time. idea that corruption in high the public subtly of the Pak Lah places could be combated. factor and invite them to be a part Perhaps Abdullah, in his first of- of the future that Abdullah had in ficial visit as premier, wanted to Opposition parties like Keadilan mind for Malaysia. show Singapore he was his own were quick to say the arrests, while man, interested in sizing things welcome, were overdue as they All that was best seen in the “Vote up for himself first. His Singapore had long slammed the Mahathir for Malaysia” TV commercial, counterparts appeared willing to administration for rampant cor- aired three days before polling give him the benefit of the doubt ruption. They also wondered day as though to recap the Pak and start afresh. In any case, the whether the arrests were a politi- Lah factor for the public. It shows mainstream media went to town cal gimmick to win votes at the Abdullah looking pensive as if he about Abdullah and Singapore election. Still, it couldn’t be denied is hoping he can get the rakyat’s leaders getting along chummily, the arrests took the wind out of support to do the things he would spending time together playing the opposition, especially like to do as prime minister. And golf in Singapore and celebrating Keadilan, which is rooted partly the things are not about mega- Kongsi Raya in Johor Baru. in fighting corruption. It certainly projects. Rather, they focus on Abdullah’s performance prom- was not easy for the opposition to helping the poor and the down- ises a smooth, steady, and even raise the corruption issue in their and-out folk. fruitful foreign diplomacy unlike election campaign. the noisy, rocky affair under Attack Ads Mahathir. Soft-sell However, two issues are impor- Two more of Abdullah’s “initia- The “initiatives” and the careful tant to consider when dealing tives” were even more tantalising. image construction of Abdullah’s with any constructed images. Apparently concerned with the character, demeanour and style of One, an image needs to be pro- perennial public perception of the leadership are what constitute the tected from any “oddities” or con- police as inept and mired in brib- Pak Lah factor. It allowed tradictions that may cast a differ- ery and corruption, he set up a Abdullah to be seen as different ent light on it and undercut its ap- Royal Commission to look into the from Mahathir and Anwar. While peal. The other is what is ex- force. The inclusion in the com- he respected, if not admired, cluded from the image can be re- mission of former head of the Mahathir for his accomplish- vealing as well. Regarding the Malaysian judiciary Lord Presi- ments, he also showed he was his “oddities” to the Pak Lah factor, a dent Salleh Abas, who was dis- own man with his own agenda. couple of them already surfaced missed under Mahathir’s pre- He co-opted major issues of even though the mainstream me- miership, took many by surprise. Anwar’s or Keadilan’s concerns dia tried to nip them in the bud Perhaps an honest evaluation of for the rural poor and corruption through their coverage or lack of the police is on the horizon. and promised to work on them it. without Reformasi’s indignation. Abdullah’s most tantalizing “ini- The Pak Lah factor has allowed When Abdullah said he refused tiative” was when the Anti-Cor- Abdullah to carve out his own to respond to Hadi’s criticism that ruption Agency arrested and political space for his leadership he lacked Islamic credentials, he charged a couple of high profile and agenda. also told BN leaders to refrain individuals for corruption. The from personal attacks. But during arrest of Eric Chia, an industrial- The pliant mainstream media re- the election campaign, several BN ist under the Mahathir adminis- peatedly illustrated, sharpened ads in The Star and Chinese dai-

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 37 get different groups whatever Abdullah had to say, of voters. sometimes ad nauseam.

Presumably, then, Could it be that Abdullah MCA was responsi- showed a lack of understanding ble for the attack of democracy - that checks and ads. Did not this balances to the ruling party from contradict Abdullah the opposition are not the same telling BN leaders to as feedback from the rakyat? It refrain from per- appeared his distaste for con- sonal attacks? How frontation that led him to dis- will he handle this miss the opposition as redun- kind of contradic- dant revealed a discrepancy be- tion from within his tween the Pak Lah factor and BN in the future what democracy is about. given his apparent gentle, non-confron- This brings up the other issue tational image? concerning any constructed im- ages. As much as an image And, with the differ- shows what is in the spotlight, ent ads used to tar- it is also revealing in terms of get different voters, whatever has been excluded does this mean from it. What has been con- Abdullah will make spicuously excluded from the different promises Pak Lah factor are any interests lies attacked DAP’s Lim Kit Siang to different people? Does this not in enhancing democratic aspi- and Karpal Singh. They decep- reduce the Pak Lah factor to mere rations and institutions and in tively suggested that both agreed rhetoric? promoting a sense of fair play. with the intolerant Islam practised by PAS. Disdain For Abdullah is silent on how his Democracy moderate, progressive Islam Although the DAP merged with squares with repressive laws PAS, Keadilan and PRM to form Another “oddity” surfaced a few such as the Internal Security Act, Barisan Alternatif for the 1999 hours before campaigning ended which allows for detention with- election, the ads left out the fact at midnight on 20 March. In re- out trial. Is it progressive and that the DAP left the BA soon af- sponse to a question from a jour- moderate to fight extremism with terwards because they disagreed nalist, Abdullah said the country another form of extremism that de- with PAS. They also ignored without any opposition parties nies a person due process of the Hadi’s attack of Lim and Karpal would not miss out on anything. law? as “expired medicine” before He believed there would still be a nomination day for the 2004 elec- democracy if no opposition Much has being written about tion and Lim’s rebuttal that Hadi served as elected representatives the lack of an independent judi- was living in Malaysia not the because the rakyat could act as the ciary due to the dominance of Middle East. BN government’s check and bal- the Prime Minister’s office un- ance. der Mahathir. Again, Abdullah Even Gerakan’s Koh Tsu Koon has hardly anything to say to disassociated himself and his TV3 in its midnight bulletin that that. The one small exception party from the attack ads. BN in- same night reported it. Neither the was when he said justice was siders said that the “soft” ads like New Straits Times nor The Star re- served when the Court of Ap- the “Vote for Malaysia” commer- ported it the next day, however. peal, after a long delay, made its cial were the only ones to come And that was the end of the issue. decision to dismiss Anwar out of the BN chairman’s office. Curious that both papers ignored Ibrahim’s application for bail. And different ads were used to tar- the story as they had covered All this in the face of at least a

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 38 funded with tax tions. Mahathir arguably had money, has been even less interest in them. But used by the BN as the fact that the Pak Lah factor though it owns it. excluded any of these interests TV1 and TV2 be- suggests Abdullah’s regime is came the mouth- pretty much in keeping with the pieces of the BN. authoritarian rule of the Three days before Mahathir regime. nomination day, TV1 ran the same But for now, about 63 per cent of clip, “Bersama Pak the people who voted for Lah” (Together with Abdullah and his BN liked his Pak Lah), as a news Pak Lah image. They were also item in its English tantalized by his initiatives. But news at 6 pm for the initiatives remain promises at three straight days. this point. It is time for Abdullah Opposition parties, to walk the talk in his Pak Lah fac- if presented at all, tor. were shown only in connection with And so, can he really stay away Abdullah is silent on repressive laws such as the Internal something nega- from Mahathir’s mega-projects? Security Act. tive. How well can he “revolution- ize” the agricultural economy couple of irregularities that Throughout the election cam- and improve the lives of the ru- called into question the due paign, Abdullah and his BN of- ral poor? Can the acrimonious process of the law that Anwar fered projects or programmes to relationship between Malaysia received. The three judges did the people, e.g. opening commu- and Singapore of the past two not offer any rationale in court nity centres and giving out land decades be smoothed out? What for dismissing Anwar’s appli- or home-ownership titles. These will become of the investigation cation. They also blamed forms of vote buying unethically into bribery and corruption in Anwar for not turning in an af- favoured the incumbent BN but the police force? Is he able to fidavit when even the prosecu- Abdullah shamelessly took ad- champion his moderate, pro- tors believed he did. vantage of them. gressive Islam without curtail- ing freedom and due process of Unlevel Playing Field Abdullah and his BN also had the the law? Election Commission serve their The “clean” image of Abdullah needs instead of respecting its in- Last but not least, is Abdullah se- also did not square with his lack dependent role of ensuring the rious about fighting corruption, of fair play. He and his BN had election was conducted fairly. For especially in high places? After no qualms abusing government instance, although the EC should the arrests of Chia and Kasitah, resources and facilities for their be the one to decide on the nomi- Rais Yatim said the ACA had 18 election campaigning. He did not nation and polling schedule, the more names–including those in appreciate that once parliament BN government, according to high places—to be investigated for was dissolved, his BN party was Malaysiakini, decided on it in- corruption. What will become of just one among other political par- stead. these investigations? q ties contending for votes in the election. The BN’s incumbency Authoritarian Rule did not mean they were still the Wong Kok Keong is a government because there was a True, Abdullah is not the first to Malaysian lecturing in caretaker government in its place. show a lack of interest in fair communications in the play and in enhancing demo- United States RTM, which is state property cratic aspirations and institu-

Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(3) Page 39 ELECTION 2004 The Pak Lah Factor The BN’s PR boys promoted a carefully constructed ‘brand’ image of Abdullah Badawi by Wong Kok Keong

he Barisan Nasional’s ism today. sented black-and-white videos of resounding victory in the him while a letter was read and TTT 11th general election Before taking over from Mahathir ended with the line, “Vote for means a lot is now ex- Mohamad as the fifth prime min- Malaysia”. pected of prime Minister ister, Abdullah was largely a mys- Abdullah Badawi. A good major- tery. Many wondered whether he The “Cool” Guy ity of the people responded to his would have anything to bring to plea for a big mandate. It is now the table as premier and specu- Abdullah also projected himself time for him to keep his word that lated that he would stay with the as relaxed and accessible to the he and the BN’s elected repre- status quo Mahathir left behind. youth, especially young urban sentatives are truly servants of the professionals, who wanted to people. But soon after Mahathir left the have their views respected rather scene, Abdullah began to project than brushed aside by elders. This On the other hand, the Anwar fac- an image of a decent, sincere, non- was best captured when tor that defined the 1999 election confrontational gentleman. He Abdullah appeared on radio, was all but gone this time around. presented a “clean” image of him- fielding questions not just from Only Anwar Ibrahim’s wife man- self. It helped that he has a soft, call-in listeners but the young aged to save Keadilan from being shy smile to get people to feel an deejays as well. The mainstream totally wiped out at the polls by instant camaraderie with him. All media relished showing how retaining the parliamentary seat these attributes were nicely sug- much he enjoyed the whole thing of Permatang Pauh with a slim gested by his moniker, Pak Lah. as he alternated between cheerful 590-vote majority. laughter and serious contempla- The BN-connected or -owned tion. Like Bill Clinton who cam- The Pak Lah “Brand” mainstream media and the adver- paigned twice successfully for the tising agencies presented US Presidency, Abdullah showed Several reasons led to Keadilan’s Abdullah in different ways to ap- he could relate and just “chill”. thrashing at the polls. Some peal to the old and the young. He was “cool”. stemmed from within the party as Parents and grandparents must well as its relationship with op- have been touched by images of So different from Mahathir, whose position parties. Of course, the him full of love and respect for his approach to the youth was more election was also contested in a mother before and at her death. In of an authoritarian dad telling the highly unlevel playing field that particular, the moving picture of young to study or work hard so favoured Abdullah’s BN. But him kneeling before her and gen- that they could be a successful there was yet another major rea- tly kissing her hand while she contributor to his Malaysia Inc. son. This was the rise of the Pak was still alive must have been one day. Until then, it was ‘father Lah factor. It is a product of a care- etched deeply in their hearts. The knows best’. fully constructed image of public was again reminded of it Abdullah himself - or branding, by a TV commercial shown three in the parlance of global capital- days before polling day. It pre- Continued on page 36

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