Friday, April 27, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
The Great Malaysian Lie
Important! Read till the End!!!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: J TAN <jimtan_udin@yahoo.com.au>
Date: Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 7:19 AM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Independence of Malaysia
To: kc chong <kcchong2@gmail.com>
Cc: Tan Sri Bernard G Dompoh <n4upko@yahoo.com>, Johnny Joseph Tingang <gmel.com@gmail.com>, Dunstan Chan <dunstan.desee@gmail.com>
From: kc chong
To:
Sent: Tuesday, 17 April 2012 6:32 AM
Subject: Fwd: Independence of Malaysia
For the records, I went through all these happenings. I
was a young adult at that time with no inclination towards politics.
However, I vaguely remembered reading in the newspapers how the date of
16th September 1963 came about. Originally, the declaration of Malaysia
was scheduled for 31st August 1963 to coincide with the anniversary
date of the declaration of Independence of the Federation of Malaya (which
was 31st August 1957). The reason why it was postponed was that
Indonesia and the Philippines, at that time, strongly objected to the
formation of Malaysia .....Indonesia threatened armed confrontation and
Philippines refusing to back down from its claim to North Borneo (as
Sabah was then known). To ease up tensions, the then Malayan government
decided to postpone the declaration of Malaysia to 16th September 1963.
Hence, the anomaly in the dates.
Kimsoon
Spot the offending sentence? “ Malaysia welcomed Sabah and Sarawak as states.” The Prime Minister of Malaysia, no less, officially writes in his official blog that Sabah and Sarawak were welcomed INTO a country called Malaysia in 1963!
Not only is this sentence factually wrong (as Malaysia was actually formed on that very day and you cannot ‘welcome’ other states into an entity which would need those very states to form it in the first place in order to welcome anything into), but it is also a blatant re-writing of history! Sabah and Sarawak were not just states of a larger country, Mr. Prime Minister; Sabah and Sarawak were INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES and EQUAL PARTNERS to Malaya !
But if you were to believe the Prime Minister writing in his blog, Sabah and Sarawak were only states that joined an already existing country! Surely the Prime Minister of Malaysia would know history and know how his own country was formed? And if he genuinely made a mistake, surely one of his many advisers and staff members would quickly alert him to the fact and correct the glaring mistake? Or did they not know too, and if so, it begs a more disturbing question: is our country being runned by incompetent people who do not know the history of their own country? Truth be told, I suspect no one made a mistake.
It is plain that history is deliberately being re-written. But why? Two glorious words: Malaysia Agreement.
The Barisan Nasional government wants us to forget that there is such a thing as the Malaysia Agreement. It wants us to forget because the Malaysia Agreement specifies very clearly that Sabah and Sarawak have certain rights and privileges enshrined in the 18-Point (Sarawak) and 20-Point ( Sabah ) Agreements respectively. Sabah and Sarawak, both independent countries, came together as equal partners with Malaya to form Malaysia with pre-conditions attached. And these pre-conditions would empower Sabah and Sarawak . Empowerment is a frightening thing to the BN. It does not like to empower anyone except itself. Now more so than ever, it needs Sabah and Sarawak to retain its majority in Parliament and cling on to power. So to give power to Sabah and Sarawak is a very frightening idea to the BN government. So what does it do? It re-writes history and hopes that Sabahans and Sarawakians forget. It teaches Sabahan and Sarawakian school children to celebrate the 31st of August as Malaysia ’s Independence Day whilst remaining deafeningly mute on the 16th of September. It uses newspapers, television and colourful parades to brainwash the masses into believing the lie that it assiduously propagates - that Malaysia gained independence on the 31st of August, 1957; when in actual fact Malaysia had not yet existed.
But all is not lost. You and I can change the situation. We can bring honour back to the 16th of September and accord it the significance it rightly deserves. More importantly, you and I can honour the Malaysia Agreement and return power to Sabah and Sarawak . Did you know that the Pakatan Rakyat has made a very important pledge to the peoples of Sabah and Sarawak ?
Yes. A Pakatan Rakyat government will honour the Malaysia Agreement. (The Federation Agreement is basically the Malaysia Agreement.) This pledge is contained in the Buku Jingga, the book of policy pledges by the Pakatan Rakyat. You can download the Buku Jingga in English HERE. If you, like me, love Sarawak and want to see her powers and status as an equal partner restored, you will know what to do come the 13th General Election.
Back to the Prime Minister’s blog entry, which you can read HERE. If you continue reading the blog entry, you will see that the whole purpose of the entry was to appease Sabahans and Sarawakians. Wasn’t it ironic that in trying to appease us, he actually made us feel even more displeased, thinking us illiterate idiots with short memories?
So when is our nation Malaysia ’s Independence Day? There simply isn’t one. Our nation Malaysia never achieved independence. Our nation Malaysia was born out of the coming together of three individual nations already independent BEFORE they formed Malaysia .
And let us be clear once and for all. Sarawak never JOINED Malaysia because there was no Malaysia to join in the first place. Sarawak joined Malaya and Sabah to FORM Malaysia . Never forget that. Teach it to your children.
I will fly my Jalur Gemilang proudly on the 16th of September. Not on the 31st of August. It is time to stop buying into a lie.
P.S. If the Barisan Nasional is genuinely not guilty of subtle and systematic brainwashing and never willfully schemed to displace Malaysia Day with Merdeka Day (and my entire argument about the insidious plot to wipe the Malaysia Agreement from memory is therefore in tatters), then the Barisan Nasional is guilty of a far graver and greater sin - absolute and unadulterated ARROGANCE; the significance of Malaya’s independence far outweighs that of Malaysia’s formation and birth and to hell with what Sabah or Sarawak might think. And that means we’re well and truly screwed.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: J TAN <jimtan_udin@yahoo.com.au>
Date: Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 7:19 AM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Independence of Malaysia
To: kc chong <kcchong2@gmail.com>
Cc: Tan Sri Bernard G Dompoh <n4upko@yahoo.com>, Johnny Joseph Tingang <gmel.com@gmail.com>, Dunstan Chan <dunstan.desee@gmail.com>
TKS No comments.Let the Natives of Sabah and Sarawak be "screwed" by the so call Malays.
Native of Malaya
From: kc chong
To:
Sent: Tuesday, 17 April 2012 6:32 AM
Subject: Fwd: Independence of Malaysia
All genuine malaysians MUST read this !!!
kc
*******************
And let us be clear once and for all. Sarawak never JOINED Malaysia because there was no Malaysia to join in the first place. Sarawak joined Malaya and Sabah to FORM Malaysia . Never forget that. Teach it to your children...-.....
....a copy of the Sarawak Government Almanac, .... The British gave up Sarawak on the 22nd of July, 1963 and on that day we became an independent nation. A country all of our own. Our own flag, our own anthem and even our own money! ....
TS
There seems to be a complication in the above,
i.e. Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei became
independent on 16 July 1963
...but the British renegade because of fierce
objection from Philippines and Indonesia.
Unlike Singapore which also became independent
about that time -- Singapore had its own govt
and prime minister -- the Borneo states were
never independent.
On Kimsoon's note below, they (British) were
forced to postpone Malaysia day by two weeks
because of serious military aggression primarily
from Indonesia and may be Philippines (it was
all British decision).
RC
For those who are interested,
I have a leaflet outlining how the formation of Malaysia came
about, starting with a proposal by Tunku Abdul Rahman over a press
luncheon in Singapore on 27th may 1961 and the eventual formation of the
Cobbold Commission to work out the details. This leaflet was
pre-printed for the release of the First Day Cover stamps scheduled for
31st August 1963 (the date was actually mentioned in the leaflet) but
which we all know, was postponed to 16th September 1963. The leaflet is
in fine print and with age, the paper is a bit brittle. Nevertheless,
I'll try to scan it into the computer and forward again to you in the
near future for your information. Hopefully, this will come out all
right and with that you can interpret the basis on the formation of
Malaysia or at least, a summary of it.
______________________________
Sent: Friday, 2 March 2012, 10:31
Subject: Independence
Subject: Independence
Sunday, August 14, 2011
It is time to stop buying into a lie.
Dear Reader,
May I be honest?
I am sad. I am sad because I am told by my government that I must celebrate the Independence Day of my country on the 31st of August. But what is so wrong about this that it makes me sad?
Let me tell you. If you don’t like dry and boring history lessons, you can leave my blog now. But if you have ten minutes to spare, read on.
The Federated States of Malaya which comprised all the nine Sultanates, Malacca and Penang were given their independence by Great Britain on the 31st of August, 1957. The photo below records the historic event. It is the iconic image of Tunku Abdul Rahman proclaiming independence for Malaya . Yes, MALAYA . Not Sarawak, not Sabah, but MALAYA . And this date became known as MERDEKA DAY. For the Federated States of MALAYA .
Then, six years later, Sarawak was given her independence. On the 22nd of July, 1963. Bet you didn’t know that the 22nd of July is an historic date for Sarawak , huh? Of course you wouldn’t. It has probably been wiped off the official history text books, or glossed over during history classes. But if you buy a copy of the Sarawak Government Almanac, it’s there in black and white. The British gave up Sarawak on the 22nd of July, 1963 and on that day we became an independent nation. A country all of our own. Our own flag, our own anthem and even our own money!
Then, fifty five days later, after the British granted her independence, Sarawak, together with Sabah, Singapore, and the Federated States of Malaya came together to form a new nation called MALAYSIA on the 16th of September. This date, the 16th of September, 1963, came to be known as MALAYSIA DAY because it was on this historic day that a brand new country was born in the world. ( Singapore got ‘kicked out’ later but Malaysian history books politely claim she decided to withdraw from the new nation. Brunei was also involved in the discussions to form Malaysia but it too decided against the idea.)
However, gradually, Malaysia Day became forgotten through, I suspect, a subtle and systematic process of brainwashing on the part of the Barisan Nasional government. More and more emphasis was placed on Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day was ignored, its significance eroded and displaced by Merdeka Day. Merdeka Day became a public holiday, and the whole country began to get caught up in celebrations come every 31st August.
Young Sarawakian school children were, and still are taught to wave flags and jump for joy come 31st August because on this date Malaysia achieved her independence. Now if you have been paying attention, you will obviously have noticed that there is a factual error in the previous sentence. Malaysia DID NOT achieve her independence on the 31st of August, 1957 simply because Malaysia had not existed yet! It was only Malaya which achieved her independence on the 31st of August, 1957; Malaysia was only formed six years AFTER Malaya achieved independence.
The date 31st of August means very little to me as a Sarawakian and yet I am told by my government to honour this date on the basis that I am a citizen of Malaysia and therefore as a proud and loyal Malaysian, I should jump and shout for joy that Malayans received their independence on the 31st of August despite the fact that I am also a Sarawakian and this date has little significance to me. This date did not affect my beloved Sarawak in any way whatsoever and has never been part of its rich history, so what is there to celebrate or what memory is there to honour and cherish for a Sarawakian? Sarawak achieved her independence on the 22nd of July but the government does not give this date any due recognition. Instead, I am to celebrate a date which has more significance for my fellow Malaysians in West Malaysia . That is why I am sad.
Malaysia Day, the 16th of September, 1963, however, means a lot to me. It was the date my beloved Sarawak became a part of a new nation, standing tall and proud in the world amongst other independent nations. Shouldn’t this date when we officially became a country take centre-stage in our history as a nation?
And yet, it was only last year that the Barisan Nasional government decided to recognise Malaysia Day and grant it ‘public holiday’ status. And only because Pakatan Rakyat ‘reminded’ the BN government. It actually took the BN government forty-seven years to recognise Malaysia Day officially!
But the question on my mind is why did the BN government try to sweep Malaysia Day under the carpet and dispatch it to the annals of history to be conveniently forgotten? And why do I suspect that there is a conspiracy going on to distort and blur the story of the formation of Malaysia ?
Let me draw your attention to the opening paragraph of a blog entry dated 15th September, 2009, by Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak. He wrote,
May I be honest?
I am sad. I am sad because I am told by my government that I must celebrate the Independence Day of my country on the 31st of August. But what is so wrong about this that it makes me sad?
Let me tell you. If you don’t like dry and boring history lessons, you can leave my blog now. But if you have ten minutes to spare, read on.
The Federated States of Malaya which comprised all the nine Sultanates, Malacca and Penang were given their independence by Great Britain on the 31st of August, 1957. The photo below records the historic event. It is the iconic image of Tunku Abdul Rahman proclaiming independence for Malaya . Yes, MALAYA . Not Sarawak, not Sabah, but MALAYA . And this date became known as MERDEKA DAY. For the Federated States of MALAYA .
Then, six years later, Sarawak was given her independence. On the 22nd of July, 1963. Bet you didn’t know that the 22nd of July is an historic date for Sarawak , huh? Of course you wouldn’t. It has probably been wiped off the official history text books, or glossed over during history classes. But if you buy a copy of the Sarawak Government Almanac, it’s there in black and white. The British gave up Sarawak on the 22nd of July, 1963 and on that day we became an independent nation. A country all of our own. Our own flag, our own anthem and even our own money!
Then, fifty five days later, after the British granted her independence, Sarawak, together with Sabah, Singapore, and the Federated States of Malaya came together to form a new nation called MALAYSIA on the 16th of September. This date, the 16th of September, 1963, came to be known as MALAYSIA DAY because it was on this historic day that a brand new country was born in the world. ( Singapore got ‘kicked out’ later but Malaysian history books politely claim she decided to withdraw from the new nation. Brunei was also involved in the discussions to form Malaysia but it too decided against the idea.)
However, gradually, Malaysia Day became forgotten through, I suspect, a subtle and systematic process of brainwashing on the part of the Barisan Nasional government. More and more emphasis was placed on Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day was ignored, its significance eroded and displaced by Merdeka Day. Merdeka Day became a public holiday, and the whole country began to get caught up in celebrations come every 31st August.
Young Sarawakian school children were, and still are taught to wave flags and jump for joy come 31st August because on this date Malaysia achieved her independence. Now if you have been paying attention, you will obviously have noticed that there is a factual error in the previous sentence. Malaysia DID NOT achieve her independence on the 31st of August, 1957 simply because Malaysia had not existed yet! It was only Malaya which achieved her independence on the 31st of August, 1957; Malaysia was only formed six years AFTER Malaya achieved independence.
The date 31st of August means very little to me as a Sarawakian and yet I am told by my government to honour this date on the basis that I am a citizen of Malaysia and therefore as a proud and loyal Malaysian, I should jump and shout for joy that Malayans received their independence on the 31st of August despite the fact that I am also a Sarawakian and this date has little significance to me. This date did not affect my beloved Sarawak in any way whatsoever and has never been part of its rich history, so what is there to celebrate or what memory is there to honour and cherish for a Sarawakian? Sarawak achieved her independence on the 22nd of July but the government does not give this date any due recognition. Instead, I am to celebrate a date which has more significance for my fellow Malaysians in West Malaysia . That is why I am sad.
Malaysia Day, the 16th of September, 1963, however, means a lot to me. It was the date my beloved Sarawak became a part of a new nation, standing tall and proud in the world amongst other independent nations. Shouldn’t this date when we officially became a country take centre-stage in our history as a nation?
And yet, it was only last year that the Barisan Nasional government decided to recognise Malaysia Day and grant it ‘public holiday’ status. And only because Pakatan Rakyat ‘reminded’ the BN government. It actually took the BN government forty-seven years to recognise Malaysia Day officially!
But the question on my mind is why did the BN government try to sweep Malaysia Day under the carpet and dispatch it to the annals of history to be conveniently forgotten? And why do I suspect that there is a conspiracy going on to distort and blur the story of the formation of Malaysia ?
Let me draw your attention to the opening paragraph of a blog entry dated 15th September, 2009, by Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak. He wrote,
“On this day (16
September) forty-six years ago, Malaysia welcomed Sabah and Sarawak as
states and set out on a course toward becoming one of the leading
nations in the world. I was only 10 years old when my father, Tun
Abdul Razak Hussein, witnessed the historic proclamation of Sabah ’s
independence in 1963, but I remember how proud he was during that
momentous occasion. Sabah and Sarawak occupy a special place in my heart
because of that history.”
Spot the offending sentence? “ Malaysia welcomed Sabah and Sarawak as states.” The Prime Minister of Malaysia, no less, officially writes in his official blog that Sabah and Sarawak were welcomed INTO a country called Malaysia in 1963!
Not only is this sentence factually wrong (as Malaysia was actually formed on that very day and you cannot ‘welcome’ other states into an entity which would need those very states to form it in the first place in order to welcome anything into), but it is also a blatant re-writing of history! Sabah and Sarawak were not just states of a larger country, Mr. Prime Minister; Sabah and Sarawak were INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES and EQUAL PARTNERS to Malaya !
But if you were to believe the Prime Minister writing in his blog, Sabah and Sarawak were only states that joined an already existing country! Surely the Prime Minister of Malaysia would know history and know how his own country was formed? And if he genuinely made a mistake, surely one of his many advisers and staff members would quickly alert him to the fact and correct the glaring mistake? Or did they not know too, and if so, it begs a more disturbing question: is our country being runned by incompetent people who do not know the history of their own country? Truth be told, I suspect no one made a mistake.
It is plain that history is deliberately being re-written. But why? Two glorious words: Malaysia Agreement.
The Barisan Nasional government wants us to forget that there is such a thing as the Malaysia Agreement. It wants us to forget because the Malaysia Agreement specifies very clearly that Sabah and Sarawak have certain rights and privileges enshrined in the 18-Point (Sarawak) and 20-Point ( Sabah ) Agreements respectively. Sabah and Sarawak, both independent countries, came together as equal partners with Malaya to form Malaysia with pre-conditions attached. And these pre-conditions would empower Sabah and Sarawak . Empowerment is a frightening thing to the BN. It does not like to empower anyone except itself. Now more so than ever, it needs Sabah and Sarawak to retain its majority in Parliament and cling on to power. So to give power to Sabah and Sarawak is a very frightening idea to the BN government. So what does it do? It re-writes history and hopes that Sabahans and Sarawakians forget. It teaches Sabahan and Sarawakian school children to celebrate the 31st of August as Malaysia ’s Independence Day whilst remaining deafeningly mute on the 16th of September. It uses newspapers, television and colourful parades to brainwash the masses into believing the lie that it assiduously propagates - that Malaysia gained independence on the 31st of August, 1957; when in actual fact Malaysia had not yet existed.
But all is not lost. You and I can change the situation. We can bring honour back to the 16th of September and accord it the significance it rightly deserves. More importantly, you and I can honour the Malaysia Agreement and return power to Sabah and Sarawak . Did you know that the Pakatan Rakyat has made a very important pledge to the peoples of Sabah and Sarawak ?
Respecting the position of Sabah
and Sarawak as equal partners in the Malaysian Federation, and honouring
previous agreements made, Pakatan
Rakyat pledges to restore autonomy to Sabah and Sarawak in line with
and within the framework of the Federal Constitution and the Federation
Agreement.
Yes. A Pakatan Rakyat government will honour the Malaysia Agreement. (The Federation Agreement is basically the Malaysia Agreement.) This pledge is contained in the Buku Jingga, the book of policy pledges by the Pakatan Rakyat. You can download the Buku Jingga in English HERE. If you, like me, love Sarawak and want to see her powers and status as an equal partner restored, you will know what to do come the 13th General Election.
Back to the Prime Minister’s blog entry, which you can read HERE. If you continue reading the blog entry, you will see that the whole purpose of the entry was to appease Sabahans and Sarawakians. Wasn’t it ironic that in trying to appease us, he actually made us feel even more displeased, thinking us illiterate idiots with short memories?
So when is our nation Malaysia ’s Independence Day? There simply isn’t one. Our nation Malaysia never achieved independence. Our nation Malaysia was born out of the coming together of three individual nations already independent BEFORE they formed Malaysia .
And let us be clear once and for all. Sarawak never JOINED Malaysia because there was no Malaysia to join in the first place. Sarawak joined Malaya and Sabah to FORM Malaysia . Never forget that. Teach it to your children.
I will fly my Jalur Gemilang proudly on the 16th of September. Not on the 31st of August. It is time to stop buying into a lie.
P.S. If the Barisan Nasional is genuinely not guilty of subtle and systematic brainwashing and never willfully schemed to displace Malaysia Day with Merdeka Day (and my entire argument about the insidious plot to wipe the Malaysia Agreement from memory is therefore in tatters), then the Barisan Nasional is guilty of a far graver and greater sin - absolute and unadulterated ARROGANCE; the significance of Malaya’s independence far outweighs that of Malaysia’s formation and birth and to hell with what Sabah or Sarawak might think. And that means we’re well and truly screwed.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
A BN Win In GE-13 Will Be Illegitimate
(As usual, comments by Sarawak Headhunter in red)
COMMENT
Malaysia (purportedly) practises democracy. Its elections are conducted in a manner
popularly known as 'first past the post', meaning that the polls are won
by a candidate with the most votes.
The winning candidate does not necessarily need to receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.
The winning candidate does not necessarily need to receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.
BN is one of the world's longest uninterruptedly elected coalition of
political parties ruling a country. Its rule over Malaysia is now
entering the sixth decade.
The
opposition parties and its leaders have long complained that BN has
been practising unfair and illegal methods in most of the polls, to
assure victory and consolidate their power.
However, it is only after 2008 that more light is being shed on the
crooked ways that BN appears to be employing to win at all costs in the
looming elections.
In more ways than one, the distance in the race to the post for a BN
victory appears to be getting shorter by the day at the expense of the
opposition.
From the expert analysis of many political scientists such as Wong Chin Huat and
Ong Kian Ming
as well as electoral reform coalition Bersih and civil society action
group TindakMalaysia, a clearer picture is beginning to unveil - the
GE13 is going to go down in the nation's history as the dirtiest
elections ever.
Public funds origin ignored
The usual dirty tactics as always remain. BN being the ruling government
is accused of controlling the mainstream media like the national
television and radio broadcasts as well as the newspapers.
Claims
of federal money being utilised to fund their political campaigns,
government machinery and facilities being abused, civil servants being
bullied to assist are serial complaints from the opposition.
Claims
of federal money being utilised to fund their political campaigns,
government machinery and facilities being abused, civil servants being
bullied to assist are serial complaints from the opposition.
In Sarawak, BN candidates even make use of helicopters allocated for the EC and paid out of public funds. The EC doesn't need or use as many helicopters as it purportedly does for elections in Sarawak. Abuse of government machinery and public funds is nothing new to BN in Sarawak.
What is even more alarming is the revelation of the elaborate methods being employed to dilute the power of the legitimate voters in this country. First, is the outright rigging methods which include vote buying, ballot stuffing and counting/tabulation frauds. Second, is the rigging through the electoral roll. This is done by three methods:
- Inclusion of non-voters - the phantom voters. This includes dead people voting, non-resident, non-existent voters (cloning) and foreigners being given citizenship/MyKads;
- Exclusion of legitimate voters omitted directly from the electoral roll;
- Redelineation of constituencies: by altering the size and boundary of the electorate, one can affect the power of the ballot. Recently the EC had been doing this under the 'border correction exercise' term.
The count of registered voters who number more than 50, sharing a same address is 1,262.
The number of new voters who have been 'registering' since BN lost its two-thirds majority in the last GE is nothing short of spectacular.
As of Dec 31, 2011, 12,595,268 Malaysians have registered as qualified voters.
This sudden feverish spurt of 'voter enlightenment' appears to show Selangor as its epicentre.
Selangor registered 340,000 new voters since the last GE, which is a 21.8% rise compared with the national average of 16.3% in voter registration.
Ong Kian Ming highlights that history appears to be repeating itself as the two states Sabah (after the 1990 elections) and Terengganu (after the 1999 polls) saw a sudden jump in the number of voters in the electoral roll after the BN loss.
Subsequently in the following GEs, miraculously the BN returned to power in spectacular fashion.
In
2011, the National Institute for Democracy and Electoral Integrity
(NIEI), Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and Merdeka Centre
conducted a national voter registration audit.
The main purpose was to assess the accuracy and completeness of the electoral rolls.
The number of new voters who have been 'registering' since BN lost its two-thirds majority in the last GE is nothing short of spectacular.
As of Dec 31, 2011, 12,595,268 Malaysians have registered as qualified voters.This sudden feverish spurt of 'voter enlightenment' appears to show Selangor as its epicentre.
Selangor registered 340,000 new voters since the last GE, which is a 21.8% rise compared with the national average of 16.3% in voter registration.
Ong Kian Ming highlights that history appears to be repeating itself as the two states Sabah (after the 1990 elections) and Terengganu (after the 1999 polls) saw a sudden jump in the number of voters in the electoral roll after the BN loss.
Subsequently in the following GEs, miraculously the BN returned to power in spectacular fashion.
In
2011, the National Institute for Democracy and Electoral Integrity
(NIEI), Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and Merdeka Centre
conducted a national voter registration audit.The main purpose was to assess the accuracy and completeness of the electoral rolls.
A total of 1,177 ordinary voters were randomly sampled from 60 parliamentary constituencies.
The key findings indicated that 8% of these voters live at invalid addresses.
About 26% of these voters are unrecognisable voters, meaning they could not be recognised by a neighbour or local resident.
In short, these voters' identities may not be valid. Only 31% of them were living in their stated addresses.
Playing pucks with EC roll
The high number of non-resident voters is a major concern and poses an unhealthy practice of democracy as per our 'first past the post' system that is especially designed to provide for actual residents to elect their representatives in accordance with the local needs as per the knowledge and issues faced by the local residents.
Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap) detected around 100,000 problematic names based on 10 issues.
Ong Kian Ming states if this number is added with other previously highlighted issues, it would be easily mount to over 400,000 dubious voters and that, too, is only the tip of the iceberg.
There are also a further 42,051 voters on the electoral roll whose IC numbers could not be detected in the National Registration Department (NRD) database.
Strangely Election Commission (EC) chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof (far right) finds this trivial as it only amounts to 0.3% of the master electoral roll of 12.6 million voters.
It is a wonder if the EC chief could find anyone who is 0.3% pregnant in this world. One can either be pregnant or not and in this case the electoral roll must be viewed as "dirty" and nothing less.
Even more hilarious is 42,000 out of 12.6 million is actually 0.003% and not 0.3% as he had stated. Perhaps decimals are not a big issue to the EC.
The key findings indicated that 8% of these voters live at invalid addresses.
About 26% of these voters are unrecognisable voters, meaning they could not be recognised by a neighbour or local resident.
In short, these voters' identities may not be valid. Only 31% of them were living in their stated addresses.
Playing pucks with EC roll
The high number of non-resident voters is a major concern and poses an unhealthy practice of democracy as per our 'first past the post' system that is especially designed to provide for actual residents to elect their representatives in accordance with the local needs as per the knowledge and issues faced by the local residents.
Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap) detected around 100,000 problematic names based on 10 issues.
Ong Kian Ming states if this number is added with other previously highlighted issues, it would be easily mount to over 400,000 dubious voters and that, too, is only the tip of the iceberg.
There are also a further 42,051 voters on the electoral roll whose IC numbers could not be detected in the National Registration Department (NRD) database.
Strangely Election Commission (EC) chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof (far right) finds this trivial as it only amounts to 0.3% of the master electoral roll of 12.6 million voters.It is a wonder if the EC chief could find anyone who is 0.3% pregnant in this world. One can either be pregnant or not and in this case the electoral roll must be viewed as "dirty" and nothing less.
Even more hilarious is 42,000 out of 12.6 million is actually 0.003% and not 0.3% as he had stated. Perhaps decimals are not a big issue to the EC.
Another mind-boggling issue is that in the voter registration audit
report, it is clearly stated that the EC had given the total number of
registered voters as of March 31, 2011 as 12,032,467. How is that so?
Bersih had also unearthed more instances of fraud in the latest electoral roll.
It appears that there are 24,105 voters in Sabah and Sarawak who have been allegedly re-registered in Selangor. (Migrants from Sarawak and Sabah perhaps?)
Its steering committee claimed that 15,520 Sabah and 8,585 Sarawak voters had been registered twice in Selangor in the latest updated electoral roll until first quarter of 2012.
Bersih had also unearthed more instances of fraud in the latest electoral roll.
It appears that there are 24,105 voters in Sabah and Sarawak who have been allegedly re-registered in Selangor. (Migrants from Sarawak and Sabah perhaps?)
Its steering committee claimed that 15,520 Sabah and 8,585 Sarawak voters had been registered twice in Selangor in the latest updated electoral roll until first quarter of 2012.
The Selangor State Government is perfectly right in wanting to do an in-depth study of the highly-likely tainted state electoral roll and to have separate elections from the federal elections, notwithstanding the EC's unsubtle threats that separate elections could cost RM30 million more that the state would have to cough out if the Federal Government had no more allocations of funds.
The Selangor State and its people would stand to lose tens if not hundreds of billions more should they allow a corrupt and illegitimate BN regime to regain control of the state through illegal means.
ALL Pakatan Rakyat-controlled states would do well to consider this notwithstanding the costs.
It would be a great pity if the BN could so cheaply continue to rob the people of not only a legitimate electoral victory but also of the resources and wealth that is rightfully the people's and not the BN's.
Should BN win again this time (beyond a doubt illegally), the scale of the looting and pillaging will be unprecedented and open and the people will be stripped and raped in broad daylight of whatever little decency they have left.
Backdoor postal voters
Another alarming development that is brewing is the BN government appears to be rushing to pass the Rela Act in Parliament.
The first reading has been submitted and among the subjects one states 'allowing Rela members to assist any security force or authority established under written law upon the latter's request'.
Some
are wondering if this is a backdoor method to eventually register the
over two million strong Rela members or even a part of them as postal
voters.
After all, there is a provision in postal voter regulation 3(f) which empowers the EC to designate any group as postal voter through the gazette.
Looking at all these issues from a macro point of view, it appears that the BN is very determined to win the 13th GE and is willing to go to whatever extent to do so (and using the people's own money to do it).
The first reading has been submitted and among the subjects one states 'allowing Rela members to assist any security force or authority established under written law upon the latter's request'.
Some
are wondering if this is a backdoor method to eventually register the
over two million strong Rela members or even a part of them as postal
voters.After all, there is a provision in postal voter regulation 3(f) which empowers the EC to designate any group as postal voter through the gazette.
Looking at all these issues from a macro point of view, it appears that the BN is very determined to win the 13th GE and is willing to go to whatever extent to do so (and using the people's own money to do it).
This time however, cases of abuse will be well-documented with video and photographic evidence that cannot be ignored both in the court of law as well as public opinion. If the BN manages to come to power again this time, it will not only be but be seen to be an illegitimate regime against which all means of unseating it will be legitimate.
Pakatan Rakyat's chances of coming to power are looking slimmer even though the crowds that are turning up at their ceramah are swelling.
In a free and fair elections, it is my personal opinion that Pakatan will win hands down, but in a polls that one has 'first past the BN's post' rule, Pakatan would require a perfect storm of the unity and support of all races in Malaysia to do so.
Pakatan Rakyat's chances of coming to power are looking slimmer even though the crowds that are turning up at their ceramah are swelling.
In a free and fair elections, it is my personal opinion that Pakatan will win hands down, but in a polls that one has 'first past the BN's post' rule, Pakatan would require a perfect storm of the unity and support of all races in Malaysia to do so.
DR PARAMAN VS is a general practitioner by profession. Just entering into his fifth decade of life, he regretfully admits to having exercised his right to vote only once - which was in the last general election. He drove 200km to do so. His wish is that the millions of Malaysians who have yet to register as voters will do so, soonest possible. He can be reached at paramanvs@yahoo.com.sg
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
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