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Malaysia vote closes, PM’s leadership at stake
8 Mar 2008, 1552 hrs IST,REUTERS
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PERMATANG PAUH/MALAYSIA: Tension rose in a Malaysian general election on Saturday after opposition supporters squared off against police in two places over suspicions of vote fraud that could tarnish the poll’s outcome.
Polls closed at 5 pm (0900 GMT), with state news agency Bernama saying 58 per cent of 10.9 million eligible voters had cast ballots by 3 pm.
Malaysia’s ruling coalition seems certain to win the poll, called before it was due in May 2009 and widely viewed as a referendum on the rule of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The electoral system itself was also on trial as opposition parties accused the multi-racial Barisan Nasional coalition of vote-rigging to continue its five-decade-long grip on power.
In the worst incident of violence so far, police in northeastern Terengganu state fired tear gas and water cannon to scatter a mob that attacked them with sticks and stones, smashing the windscreens of three police cars, local television said.
Police arrested 22 people, mainly supporters of the Islamist Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), which supports Islamic law that punishes offenders with stoning and amputation.
The fracas erupted after PAS supporters confiscated identity cards seized from bus passengers they suspected were unregistered voters. On the northern island of Penang, a crowd of about 300 people, mostly opposition supporters, taunted riot police interspersed with chants of “Reformasi and “God is Great”.
A phone survey on election eve showed non-Muslim voters were set to deliver a protest vote against the coalition, said Ibrahim Suffian, of local market-research firm, the Merdeka Center. It even showed signs of a protest vote among the Muslim majority, which is made up almost entirely of ethnic Malays and generally votes for the main ruling party UMNO.
“We saw some numbers that indicate that there might be a swing among Malay voters towards the opposition,” he said, adding many of Abdullah’s supporters appeared to have stayed at home.
Voting began just after dawn at about 8,000 polling booths across the Southeast Asian nation, from remote villages on Borneo island to the main towns and cities of peninsular Malaysia.
The final result is unlikely to be clear until 1600 GMT on Saturday.
The economy has been growing at a 6 per cent annual clip but inflation and a likely US economic slowdown is causing worries.
“The people are already fed up,” said Sharil Azrul, an Internet entrepreneur on the northern island of Penang. “Prices have been rising. We want the opposition to have a chance.”
Race relations have become a big issue in a country that has long been proud of the racial harmony among its majority Muslim Malays, ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
Opposition rallies have drawn big crowds, especially Chinese and Indian voters unhappy with Abdullah’s Malay-dominated coalition.
Chinese and Indians make up around a third of the population of 26 million and some complain the government discriminates in favour of Malays, when it comes to education, jobs, financial assistance and religious policy.
Abdullah told voters on election eve they could cause instability and chaos if they abandoned Barisan Nasional — an oft-repeated warning that is usually code for racial turmoil.
Barisan holds 90 per cent of the seats in the outgoing federal parliament and political experts say Abdullah’s continued leadership could be in jeopardy if his majority falls back below 80 per cent, or around 178 seats in the new 222-seat parliament.
Abdullah said after voting in his home town of Kepala Batas, in a rice-growing area of Penang, that the opposition was using charges of vote-rigging as an excuse in case it fared badly.
Former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Parti Keadilan Rakyat but banned from standing for election because of a corruption conviction, said opposition parties could win a third of federal parliamentary seats despite electoral fraud.
“We will shake the government this time … We will teach these cheaters a lesson,” he said after voting in a Penang seat held by his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. PAS leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat also accused Barisan of cheating, saying his supporters had found a member of the prime minister’s main ruling party in possession of 28 identity cards.
His party controls Kelantan, the only opposition-held state, and Barisan is going all-out win it back after 18 years of PAS rule.

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Malaysia vote closes, PM’s leadership at stake-Rest of World-World-The Times of India

Malaysians vote amid tensions - CNN.com 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysians voted Saturday in parliamentary elections that the ruling party is expected to win easily but with a reduced majority — a reflection of anger among Chinese and Indian minorities over complaints of racial discrimination.



An elderly Muslim woman casts her ballot in Kota Bharu, capital of Kelantan, in Malaysia, Saturday.



The fragmented opposition parties have already conceded they will lose even though they set aside their ideological differences to mount their most united challenge yet against the ruling National Front, a multiethnic coalition of 14 parties dominated by the Malay majority.

Hoping to capitalize on a protest vote against deteriorating race relations, rising crime and inflation, the opposition says it is contesting the elections with one purpose — to deny Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi a two-thirds majority in the 222-member Parliament, a feat that the National Front has achieved in every election but one since independence in 1957.

The National Front has already won eight seats that were uncontested.

Simultaneous elections also were held for local assemblies in 12 Malaysian states. The 13th state of Sarawak recently held elections. The National Front controls all states except Kelantan, which is ruled by the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS. Watch why the Indian community is angry »

PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat said he was confident of keeping Kelantan “if there is transparency” in voting. “But if they win because of cheating, we won’t sit still. We will do something.”

Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim agreed.

“Although there’s (a) groundswell of support (for the opposition) … our concern is massive rigging,” Anwar said.

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Group warns on Malaysia elections

In neighboring Terengganu state, police fired tear gas at PAS members who threw stones at two buses that were allegedly carrying National Front workers, state police chief Ayob Yaacob said. PAS officials said the workers were being brought in to cast votes using bogus registration details.

Ayob said police fired tear gas and detained 22 people. “After we did that, the rest of them all ran away,” he said.

Prime Minister Abdullah, who voted with his wife in northern Penang state, denied opposition allegations of voter fraud.

“It’s not true. What (are) opposition parties thinking? Do they think that I am a liar? I want this election to be a credible election, good for all and good for us too,” he said.

A key issue in the elections is the disillusionment among ethnic Chinese and Indians, who have complained about religious discrimination and a 37-year-old affirmative action program giving the majority Muslim Malays preference in government jobs, business and education.

Malays make up 60 percent of Malaysia’s 27 million people, and form the bulk of voters for Abdullah’s United Malays National Organization. The party dominates the governing coalition, which also includes Chinese and Indian-based parties in a power-sharing arrangement that has largely ensured racial peace in this multiethnic country.

In the last elections in 2004, the National Front won 91 percent of the seats amid optimism over a new beginning by Abdullah, who had replaced longtime leader Mahathir Mohamad the previous year. A Muslim scholar, Abdullah rode to popularity promising to root out corruption, fight crime, bring down prices and create a racially peaceful society.

First-time voter Michael Lim said he voted for an opposition party.

“They have not taken care of the people,” he said in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. “A lot of promises were made, but nothing (was) fulfilled.”

Opposition parties — the Islamic PAS, the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party and Anwar’s People’s Justice Party — say they are fighting an unfair battle.

Apart from the National Front’s organized and well-funded electoral machinery, the opposition is also hampered by an electoral system that favors the party in power.

Malaysians vote amid tensions - CNN.com

Programmer finds ‘twin’ postal voters 

Programmer finds ‘twin’ postal voters

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz | Mar 8, 08 2:31pm

Computer programmer Ong Guan Sin, 37, was intrigued when he heard that some postal voters on the electoral rolls are registered in two different constituencies.

So he decided to put his expertise to work.

Ong, who described himself as a concerned citizen, developed a programme which could determine whether the Election Commission’s (EC) online database of postal voters are registered in two places.

He obtained 563 randomly selected military identification numbers from the EC and run them through his programme.

Postal voting is presently restricted to military troops, policemen and teachers who are based far away from their constituencies.

What Ong found shocked him. Almost half of them have ‘twin’ voters registered in another parliamentary constituency

Ong said that a total of 278, or 49.3 percent, of the 563 postal voters are registered in two different constituencies.

While the original voters and their twins share the name , their military identity card number is slightly different, where all had an additional ‘0′ in their original six-digit IC number.

So too are the constituencies they are to vote.

In most instances, the year of birth of the voters are identical. In some other instances, however, they were different.

While the added numeral ‘0′ may at first seem like a simple administrative mistake or technical glitch which could explain the duplication of the postal voters’ names, Ong however said that the parliamentary constituencies of these postal voters should not have been different. [See full list]

‘Blatant effort of fraud’

A check by Malaysiakini with the EC’s online electoral roll confirmed that one Shamsuddin Jusoh, 52, of military identification number T0705196, for example, was registered to vote in the Pekan parliamentary constituency in Pahang.

Another Shamsuddin Jusoh, also 52, of military identification number T705196 was registered to vote in Setiawangsa, Kuala Lumpur.

Checks on several other postal voters’ names on the list of 563 provided by Ong were confirmed to have been repeated but registered as voters in different parliamentary constituencies.

“It is only blatant effort of fraud that can produce this,” alleged the programmer when contacted today.

“Not only have they made the postal voting system intimidating and non-anonymous, they have gone one step further by doubling the postal voters,” he added.

Ong urged the EC to explain the discovery of multiple registration.

On Thursday, it was reported that Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) had discovered a total of 195 incidences of postal voters who have been registered several times under the same first and last names and born in the same year.

Mafrel chairperson Abdul Malek Hussein revealed that there are 46 ‘Ismail Ibrahims’ - all born in the year 1962 but registered as having different IC and living in 46 different localities - who have been registered to vote in various places throughout the country.

Similarly, 14 Ismail Jusohs, all born in the year 1966 but hold different identity card numbers (IC) and registered as living in 14 different localities, have also been slated to vote.

There may perhaps be many Ismails whose last names are also Ibrahim or Jusoh, said Malek.

“(But) that’s why we need mathematicians to help us come up with the (statistical) probability of male voters with same name and date of birth. What is the statistical probability of that?” he asked.

“We’re not saying all these Ismail Ibrahims are the same person. We’re just saying this is an issue that (leads to) serious doubt,” he said further.

Tengku Adnan throws in the towel

Malaysia Today: Your source of independent news - Tengku Adnan throws in the towel

Posted by Raja Petra

Saturday, 08 March 2008

By Little Bird

Kawan-kawan, last night Tengku Adnan met his supporters at his bilik gerakan in Putrajaya. There were hardly ten people with him who was wearing a sarong and T-shirt. Tg Adnan is almost certain of winning the Putrajaya Parliamentary seat. But he spoke frankly to his supporters.

He said that the only good news for the BN is what the lapdogs in The Star, New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Utusan write-up in the Gomen-owned newspapers and the Gomen-owned TV and radio. Tg Adnan said that other than the fake media reports, all the feedback from the ground says that the BN is in deep shit this time around. The BN has resigned itself to the certainty that they have lost the 2/3 majority.

Now they are only waiting to see how many seats the BN will lose. Tg Adnan admits that the days where the BN had total sway over the country are over.

It is time for Malaysians to determine our own future. God will not change the fate of a people unless they change it themselves. Today our fate is in our hands. Let us change the future for the better. The time has come.

Malaysia Today: Your source of independent news - Tengku Adnan throws in the towel

March 7th, 2008 by Teresa

<img src=”http://teresakok.com/wp-content/uploads/p3070681a.JPG“>

Today is the last day of the election campaign. I did my level best in my walkabouts campaign in a few areas in the Seputeh and Kinrara constituencies - as we near the final hours of the campaign period.

At about 4pm, when I was resting at my Kinrara office, I was informed by a journalist that it is suspected that BN is sending “phantom” voters to  go back to vote in Kelantan. That they were gathered at the car park opposite the Hockey Stadium at Bukit Jalil.  I then went there with my assistant and a foreign journalism student.

<img src=”http://teresakok.com/wp-content/uploads/p3070694a.JPG“>

I was really surprised to see all the tents that has been set up by Barisan Nasional at the car park there. There was a card with the name of a Parliamentary constituency placed on top of each tent, like Pasir Puteh, Kubang Kerian, Pengkalan Chepa etc. There are  blue uniformed workers in each tent, and most of them mainly Malays,qued up at each tent to

register. I met some reporters there and I told them that I suspected this is a phantom voters shifting exercise.

I then sat with a woman with two kids. She told me she was from Pengkalan Chepa. She showed me and to reporters an evelope containing RM200 that she had collected from the counter. The press then took photos of her and me. She was a bit hesitant to be photographed but then we assured her that her full face would not be published in the media.

I told her that I know the former PAS MP for Pengkalan Chepa, I said he sat near to me in the Dewan Rakyat. I told her who I was and she looked so delighted to meet me personally. She said she came to know about this registration exercise through word of mouth.

While we were chit-chating at the car park, a Malay man came to take our photo from our back. After that another Malay man approached my assistant and told him that he could not take photos of their tents anymore. I then told my assistants and the press that I got to go as I was wearing DAP Wanita T-shirt, the longer I stay the more trouble I will create for the journalists in carrying out their duties.

I told Dr Dzulkifli from PAS about what was going on. He asked me to keep the evidence.

Two days ago, Najib asked the people in Kelantan to give BN a chance to rule that state for a term. His statement amused me as this was what the DAP told the voters during Tanjong 3. It also indicates how desparately BN wants to take over Kelantan.

Good God, I could never imagine that BN can be so blatant in openly attempting to bribe” voters. It is really an eye-opener for me. I felt heavy in my heart and of course by now, you would have guessed what will be topic of my ceramah for tonight.

Sassy MP » Blog Archive » Evidence of BN Sending Phantom Voters to Kelantan?

I was pleasantly surprised to see a banner in Tamil “PAS katchike engal aathravu” in a Taman where I do my marketing. It means our support is for PAS.  PAS was never in the minds of Indians all these years for the simple fact it was considered an ultra party based on religion. I suppose PAS can and do every thing for Islam, that’s its drawing power among the rural and some urban Malay supporters. But, please don’t make that zeal work at the expense of other religions.

If PAS can prove, they are also considerate when other religions are concerned, and will not brook incursion by the authorities on the rights of other religions, I think the new found relationship of PAS and Indians will grow. But if they get the notion that they must speak up only when Islam is concerned and keep quiet when  other religions are concerned then this new found relationship will be temporary.