The Nomination Day that was

April 20 2013 was Nomination Day and to many Malaysians, the most long-awaited general election in Malaysian history. This was the day when all the candidates filed their papers to contest in the May 5 general election. The nomination process started at 9 am and ended an hour later.  Groups of Opposition supporters walked in a processions carry colorful flags and shouted out "reformasi, ubah ubah and Ini kalilah".

Idris Ahmad (PAS), 059 Bukit Gantang, Perak vs BN Ismail Safian

Thousands of supporters gathered in Permatang Pauh for Anwar Ibrahim

DAP Kulai-This is Gelang Patah team

Marching into a new tomorrow in Terengganu

YB Tian Chua (P115 Batu, Federal Territory)

Tony Pua, P106 PJ Utara; Law Weng San, N35 Kg Tunku and Yeoh Bee Yin, N36 Damansara Utama 

DAP Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang

P140 Segamat PKR Chua Jui Meng N01 Jementa DAP Tan Chen Choon N02 Buloh Kasap PAS Firdaus Masod

WOW! The biggest crowd ever in the history of Muar, Johore.  Tsunami have swept Johore!!!

P031 Kuala Krai.....PAS Dr Muhammad Hatta Ramli VS BN Tuan Aziz Tuan Hamat

Bukan Sabah sahaja yang goyang. Sarawak juga goyang. P205 Saratok. PKR Ali Biju VS BN William Mawan Ikom

P089 Bentong BN Liow Tiong Lai vs DAP Wong Tack

P43 Bagan, Penang .... Lim Guan Eng

Tengku Adnan says Husam Musa will lose his deposit in Putrajaya.....more than 10,000 Pas supporters came to the nomination center in precint 9.

Calon Parlimen Pandan, Rafizi Ramli, PKR

YB Nurul Izzah, P121 Lembah Pantai, Federal Territory

HERE LIES THE HOPE OF OUR FUTURE!!!!

A Muslim speaks for Christians

I wish to add my voice as a Muslim to support my Christian brothers and sisters in Malaysia in condemning the Election Commission (EC) over their choice of Sunday as a polling day.

Sometimes I have to simply throw my hand up and wonder who actually is running this country? Here we are, in Malaysia, in the schools, teaching our children about the sacredness of our Rukunegara ‘Kepercayaan kepada Tuhan’ and ‘Kesopanan dan Kesusilaan’.

And yet, who have actually violated these very values? Non other than our top leadership of the country that includes our so called ‘YB’ ministers, one prime minister, one deputy prime minister, the muftis and I would say one other ‘symbolic’ leadership entity but then I might be cited for sedition.

When deep silence follows Ibrahim Ali’s disrespect of the Bible, Ridhuan Tee’s disrespect of the Hindus and the ‘holy warrior of Islam’ Zulkifli Noordin’s disrespect of the Hindus in his speech, I wonder if our present leadership has the moral standing to be re-elected as leaders?

Now, I have no problem whatsoever to vote for BN (as I had done prior to the Reformasi declaration) because I believed in its ideals. But I have deep problems with almost the entire leadership of the party in power in actually being a leader to my children as they have thus far shown complete disrespect of our sacred Rukunegara.

I understand election strategies and war tactics but I do not understand the leadership refusing to at least ‘pretend’ to show their concern or even ‘acting’ to tick off the likes of our three ‘Muslim Lost Warriors-who-only-dare-to-say-things-in-the-presence of-Muslim multitude’. I would have been ‘okay’ and go on advising my children that it is very disrespectful to say such things as a Muslim and as a Malaysian.

I am not sure of who the ruling party’s election strategy advisers are, but if it were me, I would advise a great show of pretending to care, I think that may rake in a significant portion of votes!

Now we have the EC disrespecting these very values. Why choose a Sunday? We should know that it is a Holy Day of the Christians. Even if we had a few Jewish citizens who celebrate the Saturday Sabbath, we should still respect that. By choosing this day, it shows that the leadership of the EC is someone questionable.

I have for many years suspected that our one or two past EC leaders have not been morally and professionally qualified to head this important body. So many questions about ghost voters and irregular procedures, gerrymandering and so many others that leave some of us wondering whether our single vote actually amounts to anything at all.

I do not see why such an important day in our country’s history that we cannot have a holiday on a workday to cast our votes. Or at least a half-holiday. We can have holidays on Sultan’s Birthdays and such but we cannot have one for the country’s democratic ‘birthdays’? Just because the EC is filled with Muslims, Islam does not teach this kind of behaviour or attitude.

I wish to go on record as saying that Muslims who follow the true teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) do not behave like these people in the EC. They are simply bad Muslims, period.

I thought that this was a democratic country and these fellows are officers of the entity that is itself a democratic element. The EC should have consulted a few others like heads of religious institutions, the heads of political parties concerned and one or two others depending on the situation (such as the head of the military in the Lahad Datu case or the surgeon-general in the Bird Flu case).

The EC is showing a bad example of democracy by choosing Sunday as a polling day. In Islam, there is no concept of ‘a day of rest’ although Friday is said to be an exceptional ‘holy’ day. But there is no evidence in the religious texts and the Prophet’s tradition to stop work altogether on a Friday.

The Qur’an merely orders Muslims to cease work for a short period of time (one to two hours) to come together as a community and listen to a sermon that will show some guidance for the week (and not some blatant campaigning of one political party or another attempt at disrespecting other religions) and after that the Muslims should return to work. There is no such holy day decreed by Islam.

Muslims, of course may choose, at their convenience Friday as a holiday but it is understood that this is a choice and not a decree.

For the good of all, I think the EC should reconsider Sunday as a polling day and defer it to Monday (preferably one week later for adequate time). I am sure all the business people would agree to declare this a holiday or at least a half holiday to allow the fundamental rights of the citizens whether he or she be a ‘lowly’ janitor or a ‘lofty’ vice-chancellor. In the eyes of democracy they are the same. One person one vote.

Business can only occur in a respectful climate and not in a disrespectful climate. Finally, I wish to say that regardless of whichever coalition gets to form the next government of our beloved country, the next leadership will have to walk on tip toes because I have seen the new Malaysia forming right in front of my very eyes and with the aid of the Internet and the social media... leadership is no longer a walk through the park.

So again, let me respectfully remind the Election Commission in the language of Bahasa Malaysia... Kepercayaan kepada Tuhan serta Kesopanan dan Kesusilaan... hormatilah semua agama rakyat kita di dalam negara tercinta. Demi Islam... Demi Malaysia, tolong ubah hari mengundi!

[Contributed by MOHAMAD TAJUDDIN MOHAMAD RASDI, professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s School of Architecture. An eloquent writer, he has authored over 30 books, including his latest, ‘Why Listen to the Vice-Chancellor?']

Al Jazeera : 101 East - The Malaysian Election

Political jokes

As the temperature rises each day as we get closer to the polling day on May 5, here are some political jokes to lighten yourself up a bit.

Political Humour (or is it?)

1. We hang petty thieves and appoint the great thieves to public office.
~Aesop, Greek slave & fable author 

2. Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.
~Plato, ancient Greek Philosopher

3. Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
~Nikita Khrushchev, Russian Soviet politician 

4. When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it.
~Quoted in 'Clarence Darrow for the Defense' by Irving Stone.

5. Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.
~John Quinton, American actor/writer

6. Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to      protect each from the other.
~Oscar Ameringer, "the Mark Twain of American Socialism."

7. I offered my opponents a deal: "if they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the truth about them".
~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952..

8. A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.
~Texas Guinan. 19th century American businessman

9. I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
~Charles de Gaulle, French general & politician

10. Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.
~Doug Larson (English middle-distance runner who won gold medals at the 1924
Olympic Games in Paris, 1902-1981)

11. A corrupt politician is akin to having a monkey in a room full of bananas.
- Unknown.

I am reminded of a joke: What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution. What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!

Loud cheers for PAS from the Chinese in Johore

A man waves a flag bearing the DAP, PKR and PAS logos at DAP’s ceramah in Sutera Mall in Skudai, Johor, April 20, 2013. — Picture courtesy of TMI

That 72-year-old DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang was feted like a rock star by thousands of people cheering and blowing on air horns last night on the first day of campaigning here for Election 2013 was no surprise.

What was striking at a rally here for the Gelang Patah parliamentary constituency was the sight of the predominantly Chinese crowd holding aloft PAS flags along with those bearing DAP’s rocket logo.

And Kit Siang captured the mood of the thousands gathered here and perhaps that of the Chinese electorate throughout the country over the perceived fear of the Islamic agenda of PAS.

“They say a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS. Is that true? Yes it is. That is because a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS, PKR and Pakatan Rakyat.

“I say here tonight. This is the battle between the past and the future,” he said as the Chinese crowd cheered enthusiastically.

The Barisan Nasional (BN), he said, represented the politics of the past, and to underscore his point, he surprisingly offered praise for his opponent, outgoing Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman.

The DAP candidate for Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang addresses the crowd — Picture courtesy of TMI“Ghani Othman is a good man. I admit he has brought development and progress. But he represents the past.

“He represents the model of BN development that is stuttered with corruption, cronyism, abuses of power and injustice.”

PR, Kit Siang argued, represented the future and a new Malaysia.

But the crowd’s enthusiasm last night was not restricted to Kit Siang.

When PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub, who is contesting both the nearby Pulai federal seat and Nusajaya state seat, addressed them earlier, the crowd cheered and waved PAS and DAP flags.

“We are making history tonight,” he said.

“The Chinese are wearing PAS shirts and holding PAS flags. PAS members too are wearing DAP shirts.

“If the Chinese can wear PAS shirts this means that Umno can fall.”

Cooperation between the secular DAP and the Islamist PAS has always been a delicate issue for the Chinese, but conventional wisdom has been turned on its head due to developments in the past 48 hours.

Members of the audience hold a DAP flag. — Picture courtesy of TMIAfter the Registrar of Societies (RoS) had thrown into doubt the legitimacy of DAP’s office bearers on the eve of nomination day, the secular party had considered using PAS’s logo for its candidates.

But the Election Commission allowed the DAP to continue using its rocket logo at Nomination Day yesterday, but the offer by PAS to DAP to borrow its logo appears to have brought the two parties closer together.

And a widespread perception among the Chinese that the DAP was victimised has also help break the community’s lingering distrust of PAS’s Islamic agenda.

This new spirit of togetherness between the two parties comes even as MCA launched a major advertising blitz attacking DAP for allegedly backing PAS’s Islamic agenda.

It remains to be seen if MCA’s campaign will work, but DAP-PAS cooperation did not seem to temper the enthusiasm of the thousands of Chinese gathered for Lim last night.

They matched their cheers with a massive cash donation of more than RM90,000 for the party’s election machinery.

[Source: TMI]

Najib, beware the 6th of May

The 13th General Election will be held on May 5 2013.  The moment the hour and minute hands pass 12 midnight, it will be May 6 when the final results would have been tallied and made known to the rakyat who has finally taken over the rein of the nation's administration.  But there is something significant of May 6, and just like Caesar on returning to Rome after a successful European campaign, was told by a soothsayer, "Beware the Ides of March",  to Najib, it's "Beware the 6th of May".

For on this day in 1978, was born a Mongolian baby by the name of Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was brutally murdered in our country in 2006 and till this moment, her ashes are still not returned to the family.  It was a murder most foul that Najib as the prime minister has decided to turn a complete blind eye.

To Altantuya, may her soul rest in peace. But to Najib, the day of reckoning is here, and justice will be meted out to those responsible for this heinous act.  Called it coincidence?

Nomindation day has ended, now the battle for Malaysia begin!

Nominations are done. The battle has begun with BN’s future hanging precariously on the dacing. This is the ground reality that needs no Wall Street analyst to interpret.

Even migrant workers are no more fighting shy to express their opinions on the way BN has been behaving lately. You do not believe? Well take a walk down town and speak to the Indon or Bangla at the marketplace or take note of your maid’s expression while she watches TV news.

The latest fracas and assault on DAP was a heaven sent sign even for fence sitters. It is a shame that BN has to stoop so low – that is the tone of opinions being swiftly shared via the new media by the rakyat. Gone are the days where the citizens kept their viewpoints close to their locked bosoms.

The frustration, disappointment and disapproval towards BN’s and especially UMNO’s election tactics and strategies are being openly questioned – not just by the educated and professional circles, but even by petty traders and maids.

The very fact that the masses are willing to come out in droves in support of the opposition leaders is not to be dismissed as ‘curious crowds’. The sense of bonding and bridging between the three coalition parties – DAP, PKR and PAS, is not a convergence of conveniences anymore. Nor is it a strategy of sorts. The harsh reality is it is, by all measures, an inevitable maturation speeded up by BN’s doing and the rakyat’s increasing determination to see through a transforming change.

Today, the rakyat are on that final countdown, determined to give that final push for transforming change. Not just change for the sake of change as the BN supremoes want to believe. But change to transform the nation from the strangle-holds of gutter politics.

In fact, the very thought in the minds of growing millions of voters is much like the Nike slogan, “Just do it”.

Extreme disappointment in BN

BN leaders and especially UMNO gangs must stop blaming the opposition party and its leaders for this election tornado that is heading their way. You actually know it. Surely your snoop squads have already kept you in the loop. The rakyat are no more singing “It’s now or never” but “It’s NOW!”.

That tornado which is expected to clean the nation and give a reason for the rakyat to build all over again a free, fair and clean nation of their choice will emerge as the sun sets on the 5th of May, 2013.

UMNO’s unforgetable threats of “over our dead bodies and crushed bones” and its keris wielding is not going to hold back the rakyat’s tidal sweep for transforming change; the warnings of “chaos” is not conssidered anymore as a price that must be paid to see through this transforming change through the gates of Putrajaya; the intimidations showered on the populace through the high-handed law enforcers is also not anymore a barricade against this tide and quest for new hope that is increasingly being shared by millions of rakyat.

Even if some chaotic situation was induced and forced onto the streets, the rakyat who have a long history and tradition for peaceful behavior will not fall victim to such instigation. Why? Because it not just change that they desire most; it is not just transformation that they want to protect; but transforming change thorough the ballot box is what is driving the election fever rigged by BN's dubious strategies and telling intent to win by any means .

An autumn for BN

BN please note. When your own leaders are threatening to jump ship and openly telling the rakyat that they are disappointed and do not subscribe to your thinking – given their last minute being discarded by your leaders, the climate has already set in for the historic moment of a new spring that will ignite hope and joy for the 28 million people. And not just for the citizens alone. Even amongst the millions of migrant workers they are saying the same:harap ada peruabahan kali ini ya. If you do not believe this nor know not, then all the more reasons BN deserves to be put into cold storage.

Oh by the way if the description 'new spring' is distasteful, please replace it with 'the autumn of BN'.

The rakyat are not only going to vote wisely. They certainly seem very set to vote decisively armored with courage and a will for transforming change. What more can you say; God bless all caring, honest and determined Malaysians on polling day.