theSun | MONDAY MARCH 10 2008
news without borders
It was the people’s anger that did it
comment by Zainon Ahmad
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
VERY few people indeed, if any at
all, can say that they expected the
Barisan Nasional to be so humbled
in this general election just after
the country celebrated 50 years of
independence under its rule.
The BN not only lost its two-
thirds majority in Parliament,
its measure of its invincibility,
strength and pride, but was also
ousted in Penang, Kedah, Perak
and Selangor. Of course, many may
be right about Kelantan.
So complete was the BN
dominance that few dared suggest
it would ever lose its two-thirds
majority, the long-time target and
objective of all major opposition
parties or coalition of parties.
Thus many sniggered rather
loudly when PAS vice-president
Datuk Husam Musa suggested
a week ago at a gathering of
Kelantanese living in the Klang
Valley that the PKR-DAP-PAS
combination was close to
winning over 116 parliamentary
constituencies.
He seemed to be the only one
on record as having said that the
BN’s magical two-thirds would be
breached, and that it was possible
for the coalition to be defeated or
brought to the threshold of defeat.
His statement also suggested
BERNAMAPIX
Police apolitical at all times: IGP
by Charles Ramendran
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Political
changes in the country’s adminis-
tration will not have an influence
on the police force as the law
enforcement agency has always
been apolitical.
Inspector-General of Police
(IGP) Tan Sri Musa Hassan said
yesterday the takeover of several
states by opposition parties will
have no impact on the police as
the force is supposed to be neu-
tral and objective in maintaining
law and order, regardless of who
heads the country.
“The function of the police is to
uphold the law strictly, fairly and
the depth of the cooperation
among the three parties where the
DAP is publicly coy about being
seen together with PAS. But the
dynamics of the campaign saw
them cooperating and at some
DAP rallies, PAS flags were also
displayed.
Of course the BN itself never for
a moment doubted that it would
maintain its hold on two-thirds
of the seats in the Dewan Rakyat,
come what may.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, while
admitting that the coalition he
leads would not be performing
as well as in 2004, had said the
BN would maintain its two-thirds
majority.
Shortly after casting his vote
in Pekan, Deputy Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Razak told RTM
that the BN would win more than
two-thirds of the Dewan Rakyat
seats. Some overconfident officials
even said the BN would repeat its
2004 performance.
So what happened? Why did the
voters deliver such a punishing
verdict?
It is apparent that the BN
leaders had misread the mood
of the people. After ruling for
half a century, it believed in
its invincibility and refused to
acknowledge that the people were
angry with some of its policies,
courteously. We have been taking
steps to improve the force and will
continue to do so through existing
programmes and other plans in
the years to come,” he said.
On Perak, Selangor, Kedah and
Penang falling into the hands of
opposition parties, Musa urged the
people to remain calm and to ac-
cept the final results of the election
to enable the changes in the state
governments to be done orderly
and in accordance with the law.
Asked if the victories by the Op-
position will have an effect on the
police force’s five-year reform plan,
he said the plan will not be affected
and will continue as projected.
Except for the brief ruckus in
Marang, Terengganu, on polling
decisions and actions.
They thought the street
demonstrations in Terengganu
and Kuala Lumpur were nothing
more than the occasional show of
defiance and dissatisfaction over
simple bread-and-butter issues.
The BN leaders refused to
accept the fact that people were
now more intelligent than they
were 50 years ago. That they
were willing to come out and
demonstrate, showed that they
were really angry and want their
grouses to be quickly attended to.
Instead, the leaders belittled
the demonstrations as something
initiated by the opposition
parties. This annoyed many
people and when BN leaders said
demonstrations are not part of the
Malaysian culture, someone wrote
to remind them that “Umno was
born out of demonstrations against
the Malayan Union”.
Besides simple bread-and-butter
issues like the rise in prices of
consumer items, anger had built
up from frustrations with the
government’s seeming inability
to deal with the increase in crime
rate, its refusal to acknowledge the
on-going Islamisation, its refusal to
deal with complaints of neglect of
minority races and its insistence to
continue with the NEP.
They were also angry at the
level of corruption and the seeming
Musa (right)
and internal
security and
day, which was speedily brought
under control, Musa said the
public order
director
election proceeded smoothly and Datuk
Hussein
successfully without any other
major incident. Ismail at
“We wish to thank all political the press
candidates and voters who gave conference in
their cooperation by observing the Bukit Aman.
law during the general election,
which ended peacefully.”
Musa commended and thanked
his personnel for executing their
duties with distinction.
He also said police have
concluded investigations into the
400-odd police reports received
since nomination day on Feb 24
and will await instructions from
the Attorney-General’s Chambers
on the next course of action.
unwillingness of the government
to root out the problem, but were
instead seen as condoning some
of the abuses that were becoming
widespread.
Unable to demonstrate to get
their grouses heard, they shouted
out their protest and anger through
the only avenue available to
them – in fact, the only recourse
encouraged by the government
– through the ballot box.
It was their anger that did it.
They wanted to show that they
matter and are not a mere doormat.
What PKR, DAP and PAS did was
merely to harness that anger into
votes for them or against the BN
and they were quite surprised how
easy it was for them to do it.
To his credit, de facto PKR
leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,
because of his determined efforts
to cobble together some form of
cooperation between his party,
DAP and PAS, emerged as an
opposition icon, something the BN
leaders had not counted on, as to
them he was already “irrelevant”.
His ceramahs became rallies,
and thousands flocked to his meet-
the-people sessions throughout the
country. His rallying call for people
to vote Opposition regardless of the
party and as long as they did not
vote BN was effective.
For instance, in the state
constituency of Bukit Selambau in
Khalid seeks audience
with Sultan today
by Maria J. Dass
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: Parti
Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)
secretary-general Tan Sri
Abdul Khalid Ibrahim will
seek an audience with the
Sultan of Selangor Sultan
Sharifuddin Idris Shah to form
a new state government at
2pm today.
Speaking to reporters
yesterday at the office of
PKR adviser Datuk Seri
Anwar Ibrahim, Khalid, who
is Selangor mentri besar
designate, said: “Once the
Sultan gives his consent, I will
seek his audience again to give
the list of names
of those who
will make
up the state
I come from a
administration, school where we
and after his
consent on deliver, and if you
this, we will
proceed.”
deliver well and you
don’t face us never
Khalid said
he will then
meet with the mind but if you
state secretary
to ensure
don’t deliver, you
the smooth have to tell us.”
transfer of
management and
administration of Selangor.
Asked if the deputy mentri
besar will be a Chinese or
Indian, Khalid said: “We have
to look at the provisions in
Selangor with regards to the
appointment of the deputy
mentri besar and take into
account the opinion of the
Sultan, as the Sultan has the
prerogative and power on the
way we manage the state.”
Asked whether he plans to
remove or replace any state
officers, he said whoever did
3
Kedah the voters rejected the MIC
candidate and instead voted for
the only other non-BN candidate,
an Independent, also an Indian.
The result was a surprise as more
than half of the voters were Malays
and demonstrated that the anger
transcends race.
Thus it is possible that attempts
made to discredit Anwar through
the media by calling attention to
what he did and did not do and
what he said while he was deputy
prime minister during the last
week of campaign backfired.
To the opposition parties,
without proper access to the
mainstream media, the rallies
helped them get their arguments
across to the people. In this the
police helped by “closing one eye”
to the rules on ceramahs.
There is no doubt that despite
its unpopularity, especially
after its move in withdrawing
the use of the indelible ink, the
Election Commission is somewhat
vindicated when the Opposition
was able to make such huge gains.
For the BN it is time for
reflection and reassessment. It
must come to grips with itself
and find out how, after winning
such a massive mandate in 2004,
it squandered the goodwill in less
than four years.
It must if it is not to become
irrelevant.
their job well would not be
replaced.
Khalid also said that in the
fashion of large corporations
which he has managed,
including Guthrie, he will report
back to Selangor citizens every
100 days.
“In the corporate world, we
go by quarterly developments
(every 100 days) and you will
see me then and you can ask a
lot of questions,” he said, adding
he had also been advised by
his colleagues to hold press
conferences fortnightly to speak
on the progress of the state.
Asked if the new state
government would be
transparent by promoting
open tenders,
Khalid said:
“Yes I hope
so; I’m willing
to do that.
Give us a
chance to do
that. We can’t
just talk. I
come from a
school where
we deliver,
and if you
deliver well
and you don’t
face us never
mind, but if
you don’t deliver, you have to
tell us.”
He said he wanted to speak
with the state legal adviser to
see if Selangor could formulate a
law to free the state government
from being bound by the Official
Secrets Act.
“I have a draft of the laws
which will be debated on at
the state assembly – on right to
information – and we hope that
via this transparency, we will
have better check and balance,”
Khalid said.