As I was saying

Loose lips sink ships, as they say. And there are certainly many loose lips here in Malaysia Today. If I were to allow open comments and not censor some of the comments, then Malaysia Today would certainly be a great help to Umno in convincing the Malays that they are under attack. I mean, for some of you, your mouths move faster than your brains.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The Election Commission’s (EC) drawing of electoral boundaries makes a rural voter worth an average of six urban voters, biasing elections towards Barisan Nasional (BN) as it is stronger in the countryside, according to poll analysts. 

Election watchdog Tindak Malaysia founder, PY Wong (photo below), said the ruling coalition won 112 out of the smallest 139 federal seats in Election 2008, giving it a simple majority in Parliament with just 18.9 per cent of the popular vote. The seats have not been changed for the next general election.

“Something is seriously wrong when you can win 50.4 per cent of Parliament with just 18.9 per cent of the votes,” he told a forum here last night.

Another analyst, Wong Chin Huat (photo below), pointed out that the smallest 112 seats only represented 33.8 per cent of the electorate.

The Bersih steering committee member said this allowed for the lopsided results in 2004, where BN won 90.9 per cent of Parliament with just 63.9 per cent of the popular vote, while Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was PKR’s sole MP despite gaining 8.4 per cent of votes cast.

“This means one vote for BN was worth 26 votes for PKR,” he said.

READ MORE HERE: http://malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/newscommentaries/48887-one-rural-vote-worth-six-urban-ballots-favours-bn-analysts-say

Up to 2,270,002 people, a majority of them Malays, registered as voters between 2008 and 2011, the Dewan Negara was told. Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Liew Vui Keong, was replying to Senator Datuk Ng Fook Heng who had asked for a racial breakdown of the people who registered as voters from 2008.

Liew said that in 2008, Malays comprised 82,309 of the new voters or 53%, Chinese 29.4% and Indians 8.1%. In 2009, Malays made up 187,828 of the new voters or 67.3%, Chinese 19.8% and Sarawak bumiputras 4.8%. While in 2010, Malays comprised 466,137 of the new voters or 56.4%, Chinese 27% and Indians 6.6%, he said. In 2011, the breakdown was 611,498 or 60.6% Malays, 22% Chinese and 6.7% Indians.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/newscommentaries/48894-over-22-million-new-voters-since-2008

 

I have actually written about this issue a couple of times: that the outcome of the general elections depends on: 1) the rural voters from the East Coast of West Malaysia as well as from East Malaysia, 2) the Malay voters in particular.

I remember saying that 100,000 Chinese votes or 100,000 urban votes can give the opposition one Parliament seat while the same number of Malay votes or rural votes can give the ruling party three or four Parliament seats.

Anyway, as I also said before: Pakatan Rakyat will need to swing the Malay votes if they want to win the next election, and to do that they need to win the hearts and minds of the Malays. However, many responded the opposite, in that they mock the Malays even more.

I suppose many feel that 80% of the Chinese votes and 50% of the Indian votes is enough, leaving PAS to sort out the Malay votes from the Malay heartland. In that case forget about kicking out Barisan Nasional. It is not enough to leave it to PAS. PKR and DAP also have to sway the Malay voters.

I have been monitoring a few all-Malay chat groups and the discussion in those groups is about how the Chinese are kurang ajar (insolent). They talk about how the Chinese are mocking the Malays and they even blame the Chinese for May 13.

I assume that many Malaysia Today readers, in particular those who are not Malays, are not members of these chat groups so you are not privy to what is being discussed. But let me assure you that the trend is extremely worrying. If enough Malays buy the argument that the Chinese are kurang ajar, hence it is dangerous to allow Pakatan Rakyat to win the election, then all the gains made in 2008 will be lost come the next election.

It is up to you, really. I notice that the race card is being played by all the races. Everyone is equally guilty of this crime. And if we continue down this slippery slope it is going to be a long time before we see changes in Malaysia.

Some of you are of the opinion that shouting ABU is enough to do the trick. Shouting whatever it is you want to shout is not enough. That is the hard reality. In fact, the opposite may even happen. The more you shout the less you gain because those you are shouting at are driven away.

Barisan Nasional will continue to rule as long as Umno continues to win the election. And for Umno to win, the Malays must be under the impression that they are under attack and that the only way to fend off these attacks is to make sure that Pakatan Rakyat does not come to power.

Loose lips sink ships, as they say. And there are certainly many loose lips here in Malaysia Today. If I were to allow open comments and not censor some of the comments, then Malaysia Today would certainly be a great help to Umno in convincing the Malays that they are under attack. I mean, for some of you, your mouths move faster than your brains.