Our task ahead is momentous

It cannot be denied that Barisan Nasional has won the 13th general election at all costs. And it also cannot be denied that they have obtained less than 50% of the popular vote. When all is said and done, this simply shows that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is not that popular after all.

While Pakatan Rakyat will be filing election petitions to challenge the results of between 25 to 29 parliamentary seats, the results of the 13th general election at this point in time is definitely valid until the legal process takes its course.

Therefore the Pakatan MPs must now focus on the work of being the opposition in parliament. Their first task of course will be to bring up important issues in the new parliamentary session which will be held either end of this month or early June.

One of these issues of course will be the crime rate. People are being killed due to snatch thefts and violent shootings and these have been reported in the mainstream papers. Numerous other incidents of crime go unreported, especially the house break-ins in neighbourhoods/residential areas.

Another issue that should be brought up by the Pakatan MPs is the one-sided reporting practiced by the mainstream media. Not only before the 13th general election but also after the polls have been concluded. The mainstream media is still set in its ways in attacking Pakatan Rakyat.

DAP especially has been singled out to bear the blame for causing the so-called ‘Chinese tsunami’ when in fact many Chinese had also voted for PAS candidates.

Perak PAS strategist, Ustaz Idris Ahmad has vowed to bring up in parliament the issue of lopsided mainstream media reporting and BN’s brand of divisive politics.

Said Idris, “Labelling the 13th general election as a ‘Chinese tsunami’ is BN’s Machiavellian method of staying in power at all costs because they have no wholesome ideas that can benefit the rakyat.”

Idris also criticised the National Civics Bureau (BTN) for implanting malicious slanders against Pakatan in the minds of the civil servants.

“Even I myself won in the parliamentary seat of Bukit Gantang with the help of the Chinese voters. The Chinese only reject BN, not reject Malay,” stressed Idris who also mentioned that Umno constantly tells the rural Malays that DAP is anti-Islam while at the same time instructing the mainstream media to blank out MCA’s insults on Islam, especially when it comes to MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek’s remarks that ‘Islam impedes economic progress’.

Idris noted that there is absolutely no proof that DAP’s Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng is a racist. Guan Eng had in fact increased the allocation for the Islamic religious schools and the salary of the religious teachers when he took over the post in 2008.

“In actual fact, Umno is covering up for its own weaknesses by blaming others. And that is why Malays who can think and who are informed will reject Umno. Malays need to think out the answer to this question: ‘Who is oppressing the people of Kelantan, the majority of whom are Malays?’. The Malays who can answer this question correctly will definitely reject Umno,” remarked Idris.

Wrongful reporting

Malicious journalism which incites racial sentiments is an evil practice that does nothing to enhance nation-building. In addition to that, there is also wrongful reporting by the mainstream press.

A local English daily on May 13, 2013 reported that PAS candidate Wan Aishah Wan Ariffin who contested the parliament seat of Jempol in Negeri Sembilan against BN’s Isa Samad had lost her deposit.

For the record, Isa obtained 31,109 votes while Wan Aishah got 22,495 votes. This shows clearly that she did not lose her deposit as only those who failed to obtain more than 1/8 of the total votes will lose their deposits. (For a parliament seat, the deposit is RM10,000.)

Idris took pains to stress that there has to be a fair election system and this is an issue that must certainly be raised in parliament. He brought up the example of Perak wherein for the state seats, Pakatan had obtained 625,710 (54.8%) votes while BN’s vote count was 506,947 (44.4%) and yet BN gets to form the state government!

There were three state seats in which Pakatan lost by a slim majority and they are Lubuk Merbau (53 votes), Manjoi (132 votes) and Manong (231 votes). In Manjoi, the loss was due to the postal votes wherein there should be no more postal votes in the this general election.

“The worst and most ironic thing is that the votes for the postal voting which took place earlier were counted only after all the ordinary votes have been tallied up and this issue definitely needs to be looked into for the umpteenth time and properly addressed,” said Idris.

For the parliamentary seats in Perak, Pakatan obtained 590,344 votes (51.7%) while BN obtained 546,451 votes (47.8%).

At the end of the day, BN has done many evil, malicious and wrongful deeds. All these shenanigans mentioned above and those not mentioned only go to show that all right-thinking citizens have a momentous task ahead to bring this nation forward by strengthening the bonds of racial unity.

We need perseverance, fortitude and wisdom in the struggle to make this nation great.

Selena Tay is a DAP member and a FMT columnist.