I started penning this SHORT piece -- not living up to my NAMA! -- @1.52AM April 8, 2009.
From the Straits Times, Singapore:
Home > Breaking News > SE Asia > Story
April 7, 2009
Opposition wins 2 seats
Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin from Pan-Malaysian Islamist Party raises his hands with other party leaders after winning the Bukit Gantang parliamentary by-election. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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BUKIT GANTANG (Malaysia) - A MALAYSIAN minister has conceded defeat for the ruling National Front coalition in two of the three constituencies where special elections have been held.
The results from Tuesday's elections are a setback for new Prime Minister Najib Razak as the elections were seen as a referendum on his leadership.
Heavy policing, tense polls
VOTING in Perak, where the state chief minister ousted by Prime Minister Najib Razak was the opposition candidate, took place amid a heavy police presence as hundreds of chanting rival supporters faced off outside polling stations.
As evening fell and the votes were counted, riot police formed up behind barbed wire on a rugby field overlooked by a colonial mansion outside the election centre to face thousands of flag-waving PAS supporters.
... more
International Trade Minister Muhyiddin Yassin says the National Front lost elections in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat in the northern Perak state. He says the Front also lost in Bukit Selambau where a seat was contested for the Kedah state assembly.
The Front won an assembly seat in Sarawak state.
Mr Muhyiddin says 'the feel-good factor' from Mr Najib coming to power on Friday is still 'too new and has not sunk in.'
Facing the worst recession since the Asian financial crisis of a decade ago, voters turned out in large numbers in the poor northwestern state of Perak in a parliamentary election triggered by the death of the MP.
The Pan-Malaysian Islamist Party (PAS) said the result in which their majority for that seat rose to 2,789 votes from 1,566 votes was a judgement by the people of a putsch staged by Prime Minister Najib Razak this year to seize power in the state.
'People are just sick with the political turmoil in Perak and this is an indictment on them (the government),' PAS Deputy President Nasharudin Mat Isa said after the results.
The results were in line with expectations and showed that Mr Najib and the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) that is the lead party in the ruling coalition have failed to reconnect with voters after a poor showing in elections a year ago.
'The results show that UMNO can no longer hope to be successful campaigning mainly on ethnic nationalist issues on the back of an economic crisis and governance issues,' said Ibrahim Suffian, of the Merdeka Center, an independent pollster.
Overall, nearly 100,000 voters were eligible to cast ballots on Tuesday. Turnout in Perak was 75 per cent, more than that in the 2008 general election when the government stumbled to its biggest ever election losses, ceding control of five states and losing its once iron-clad two-thirds parliamentary majority. -- REUTERS, AP
From malaysia-today.net, whose owner Raja Petra Kamarudin claims it's
"My shortest article ever"
Posted by admin
Tuesday, 07 April 2009 21:40
No, I am NOT going to write a new article today. I am just going to rehash what I wrote in this same column on 6 April 2009. That article was called: Another day to go and Najib is going to eat humble pie. And this is going to be my shortest article ever.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
And this was what I wrote yesterday:
Batang Ai has 8,000 registered voters, about 95% Ibans. The two contenders are five-term Lubok Antu MP Jawah Gerang and newcomer Malcom Mussem Lamoh from Barisan Nasional. The feedback I get is that there is heavy internal sabotage, which may thwart the opposition’s chances of winning this seat.
In 2004, Bukit Gantang, which has about 55,000 voters, was won by Barisan Nasional with a majority of 8,888 votes and, in 2008, Pakatan Rakyat, with a majority of 1,566 votes. That is a swing of about 10,000 votes. Pakatan Rakyat must win it this time with a majority of 2,500 to 3,000 votes to really make Najib eat humble pie.
Bukit Selambau has about 35,000 voters. In 2004, Barisan Nasional won this seat with a majority of 7,695 votes and, in 2008, Pakatan Rakyat, with a majority of 2,362 votes. That is a swing of about 10,000 votes just like in Bukit Gantang. Again, to make Najib eat humble pie, Pakatan Rakyat must win this seat with a majority of 2,500 to 3,000 votes.
Well, that is my wish list for tomorrow. Is that your wish list too?
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