Najib is the best Tupperware Queen of the 70s Tupperware Party

The only time when citizens of Malaysia can be real masters of their destiny and make the holders of public office accountable for their actions, is when we have clean and fair elections.

But our politicians are the ones who fail to distinguish between political interest and administrative positions.

Already, Prime Minister Najib Rajak has cancelled this week’s Wednesday cabinet meeting to campaign in Sarawak. Najib is blurring the lines between his federal government duties and party political interest.

Why can’t Najib emulate Malaysia’s first Prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman who took two months leave to campaign in the 1959 elections. During his absence, Deputy PM Abdul Razak acted as head of the government.

But in the run-up to the Sarawak election, both Najib and his deputy Muhyiddin Yasin have decided to campaign in Sarawak, on behalf of BN. Did these men take leave to campaign in Sarawak?

There is another alarming aspect to the Sarawak election. The political secretary to the Sarawak Chief Minister, Wilso Nyabong Ijang, apparently called on RELA members to ensure victory for BN candidates in the upcoming elections.

He is equating administrative obedience to the government with political support for the party in power. This is in breach of administrative neutrality.

Why are the members of the Ikatan Relawan Rakyat (RELA) and the armed forces in the Sarawak state elections being manipulated to benefit the ruling Party?

There have also been widespread reports that the military has been used to intimidate constituents to vote for BN, by threatening to tear down schools should the opposition win.

What has the Election Commission to say about this and why are they allowing dirty tactics like these to be employed in the run up to polling day?

And if the threatening role of the armed forces was not sufficient, there have been reports that Muhyiddin, who is also the Education minister, allegedly “reminding” an official gathering of teachers, to mark “X” next to the BN candidate on their ballot papers.

It is important that politicians on both sides of the political divide, including BN and Pakatan Rakyat, abide by the principle of not confusing or sidelining their duties in favour of partisan political interests.

Meanwhile, corrupt practices continue to dominate Malaysia elections. BN, with its seemingly unlimited budget to buy voters, can afford to offer gifts, money and promises of development with the intention of influencing the voters’ choices.

This is an election offence. But again, the Election Commission has been impotent in discharging its duties?

Those who are old enough will remember the popular Tupperware Parties of the 70s, in which housewives would host Tupperware parties to sell tupperwares, as part of a direct marketing strategy.

At one of BN’s election ceramahs, the PM in attendance. But he was not the main attraction, his tupperwares were. There was a mad scramble for Najib’s tupperwares which he had brought along as freebies.

Meanwhile, the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) deputy president Peter Nyarok threatened longhouse chiefs that he would use his ‘ministerial power’ to withdraw promised minor rural projects if the opposition were to win in the respective longhouses.

Both the PM and Sarawak BN ministers are not respecting the Election Offences Act 1954.

Once again, the EC has failed to act, to stop such illegal practices.

Another shocking revelation can be found in the figures released by the EC, in which only 34 overseas Sarawakians will be voting via postal ballot.

Is this an accurate reflection of the actual number of registered Sarawakian voters living overseas? It is generally understood that postal votes are only allowed for diplomats and overseas students who are government scholars.

If the EC has extended postal ballot rights to police spouses under Sub-regulation 3(1)(f) of the Elections (Postal Voting) Regulations, then it should have done so for all Sarawakians studying or working in Semenanjung Malaysia, Sabah, Singapore, Brunei and other countries.

The expensive transportation cost is believed to be one of the reasons why Sarawak had a low turnout of 62% in the 2006 state poll. In the 2008 general elections, Sarawak registered a lower turnout at 58%, the lowest amongst all states and a stark comparison to 79% for Semenanjung Malaysia.

Again, it is the EC’s reluctance to act, which will cause low voter turn-out for the Sarawak election.

The attempt by Chief Minister Taib Mahmud to bar the two BERSIH Steering Committee members Dr Wong Chin Huat and Steven Ng – from entering Sarawak, is a clear abuse of ministerial power.

Taib prevented the two activists from entering Sarawak because he is trying to stifle dissent.

Why should Taib be free to act like this? What were the reasons for preventing the entry of these men into Sarawak?

It must mean that Taib does have something to hide. - Malaysia Chronicle