Surprise results at the Malaysian General Elections
First off, I must apologise to my regular blog readers for all the recent politically motivated content. Its mostly over; well at least the regular pace it was at the last couple of weeks.
Malaysia made history on March 8 2008, during her 12th General Elections. The Barisan Nasional was denied a 2/3rds majority (only about 61% control now), and five states, including the most prominent Selangor (heard the phrase, Klang Valley? Its the economic powerhouse of Malaysia). The last time this happened, there was a dark day in Malaysian history, that have subsequently been written out of the history books. Don’t they learn? History is bound to repeat itself…
I was awake till past 5.30am that fateful day, chatting with the #myoss’ers, and numerous friends on various IM networks. As the results flowed in, everyone was in a state of good shock. This has to be the first general elections, where I saw so many people have a large interest, staying awake, awaiting results. It looks like the Malaysians finally decided, a change needed to happen.
Stalwarts were replaced – Samy Vellu, longest serving cabinet minister lost his Sg. Siput seat, reminding me of November 2007, when John Howard himself lost his own seat in Bennelong, during the Australian Elections.
The ruling coalition blamed the rise of the Internet and online media, for their downfall. I say they had it coming. Part of the New Economic Policy, favoured sending ethnic Malay-Muslims overseas, on a scholarship, for an education; little do they know, that they are all taught to think and started enjoying the good life (eating pork, drinking alcohol, gambling, et al) and wanted it when they had to return to Malaysia. Anwar, vows to end race-based favouritism, and focus on the NEP being there to help deal with issues of poverty (i.e. not to enrich the UMNO leaders and their cronies).
Already, there is talk about implementing a Freedom of Information Act (reported at Malaysiakini, as a statement made by Khalid Ibrahim, the new Selangor MB). I can only hope this translates to action, ASAP.
Friend, open source advocate, popular blogger, participant in NGO events (to be honest, where I first met him – Asia Source, in Bangalore) , Jeff Ooi, has also won by a great majority. I couldn’t be happier for him.
The young, who couldn’t even vote, turned up at the election rallies, and I’m proud to say, a friend from school, Shazeea Banu, was interviewed on Channel News Asia, about why she supports Nurul Izzah (Anwar’s daughter, who also defeated the incumbent with a pretty nice majority).
All in all, congratulations Malaysia. Exciting times are ahead, and here’s me tipping my glass, to you becoming the economic powerhouse that you used to be.
Technorati Tags: malaysia, elections, 2/3rd majority denied, barisan nasional, klang valley, pkr, pas, dap, new economic policy, jeff ooi, shazeea banu
Your comments about Malays going overseas and enjoying the good life plus+++ ( I will not repeat your expletives) is disgusting and utterly not welcome as part of the change that Malaysia witnessed over the weekend.If fact it is this sort of attitudes amognst non-malays that UMNO has so successfully championed against for 50 years and trampled the rights of all malaysians in the process. Do the decent thing; APOLOGISE.
Why apologise to your regular readers? A large portion of your regular readers would surely be from the free software community.. Trying to separate politics from free software development is a pointless exercise.
There are many companies who would like to use legislation to oppose free software.
It seems to me that anything which improves the transparency of political processes, increases the rights of individuals, or improves the economy of a region will be good for free software!
@Halibullah: I will not apologise, because this is the truth. I know of many that have gone overseas, who dread to come back to Malaysia. They come back, to serve their bonds. And if you think UMNO has championed these attitudes where people don’t drink, gamble, et al I challenge you to take a visit to a night club in Malaysia, or a trip up to Genting Highlands. The night club option in KL is probably the easiest – if you need help, I can name a few.
The change came from people opening their eyes, and not just blindly listening to what UMNO/BN had to say.
@Russell: Yup, politics and free software. It seems most free software people have political opinions! Apology mainly because folk might actually be bored about reading on a topic, I don’t usually talk about… I’ve thought about starting a political only blog, but feel that it will be largely deserted
Yes, the change came from a large segment of people who have opened their minds and are willing to take the risk for a change. The openess includes not burying their heads in the sand and labelling others with sheer bigotry. Pray tell me who are those @@@@@ Malay that you are referring to? Perhaps you are living in a different world disconnected from Malaysians, like you in Aussie now. In fact I dare say that you are a cop out; if you care about about Malaysian social issues and politics, be part of Malaysia and feel the heart beat on the ground. Dont live in your own circle and pass damning uneducated statements about Malays or other Malaysians. And you know what ? I am not a Malay but I will defend the integrity of any Malaysian be it Malay, Chinese, Indian or any others.
You decision to apologise or otherwise is yours. It thus shows your maturity.
Linking thinking with eating pork, drinking alcohol, and gambling probably isn’t a good idea. People who really think about things will limit their consumption of all three.
I’m not sure where the supposed expletives are. Halibullah – could you please point them out?
Also when you criticise someone the honourable thing to do is to note your own situation and how it compares. Halibullah could you please give a rough summary of your most significant amounts of time spent in other countries?
For reference I spent ~4 years living in The Netherlands, 1 year living in the UK, probably a total of almost a year of holidays and business trips in other countries (including many trips to the US), and spent the rest of my life in Australia.
Halibullah, for someone thats in Qatar, you seem to think that I’m disconnected? I’ll let you know (and if you were a regular reader of this blog, which you clearly are not, you would know) that I spend about half my year in Malaysia. I feel the “heart beat on the ground”, as you may say.
“Pray tell me who are those @@@@@ Malay that you are referring to?” – if you were “on the ground”, please head to Jln Sultan Ismail, or Jln Doraisamy at night. Heck, go to Bangsar before 12.30am on a weekend – the JAIS officers are usually hanging around, waiting for folk they can then put away in trucks and charge for something
I will not judge a single Muslim that wishes to exercise his or her right to freedoms to not “obey” the tenets forced down his or her throat. If he or she wants to eat pork, that is perfectly ok. If he or she wants drink, why stop it? If he or she wants to “marry out” of his or her current religion, then so be it. If he or she wishes to be intimate with the opposite sex, the idea of “khalwat” is wrong. This is what freedoms of religion are meant to be about (not having two separate laws, syariah and federal).
So yes, I defend the integrity of *malaysians*. I don’t even believe in race profiling because its completely and utterly stupid. Its the BN way, and its going away (I hope).
Gone hopefully are the days of “body snatching” (i.e. snatching bodies for burial after death, for people that “apparently” converted).
Note how I referred to the “good life” and never made any “disgusting” remark? If you feel disgusted by it, then you’re disgusted by the truth. And if you can’t face the truth, I feel sorry for you.
I think this should *end* the comments here. If you feel so inclined, you can just start your own blog and rant. Don’t pollute my comments stream with more crap.
Thanks.
P/S: Go to certain clubs, especially on Jln. Doraisamy on a Sunday evening/night. Tell me what you see. While you’re at it, maybe keep the JAIS phone number handy so you can prevent “disgusting acts” from happening.
Russell, “they are all taught to think and started enjoying the good life”. Balancing between thinking and enjoying the “good life” (i.e. a life you never knew before existed – like holding hands in public, not covering yourself from head to tow, being able to drink alcohol, enjoying a McDonalds breakfast meal with bacon in it, etc.) is what I’m referring to. Thinkers also take breaks. Arguably, all smart people that attend Linux conferences also let their hair down and drink (sometimes, maybe a little too much as we’ve seen in the past).
Spending half your time in a country puts you in a very good position to comment on it. 6 months there is enough to see what’s happening and 6 months in other places is enough to get a different perspective.
On that basis could you please write some blog posts commenting on the Australian culture. I believe that you could share some significant insights if you chose to write on that topic. For a few years I have been considering writing my thoughts on Australian culture (based on my years living outside Australia and the many months total that I have spent at conferences in other countries). It would be interesting to see in what ways we agree about Australian culture and in what ways we disagree.
Russell,
OK, the 6 months is a bit of a fib… I spend about 6 months in Melbourne too :) So its in between all this time, I do travel elsewhere as well
I shall however, in my spare time, write about Australian culture :)
Kind regards
Yes I work in Qatar but am in Malaysia probably more often than you.
As I have many other things to do and its your blog anyway, this will be my final comment.
Your social world including the @@@Malays obviously centers in the high life of clubs in Bangsar and Jalan Doraisamy. They have a stake in Malaysia no doubt but let me tell you that the bullwark of Malays do not fit in with your view of their world and these are the masses that significantly brought upon the changes of 8th march 2008. These are decent people who abhor bigotted statements like yours.
Adious.
Halibullah,
Arguing as to who spends more time in Malaysia is pointless. For all we know, both you and I spend more time in Malaysia, then the Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi.
I’m glad you finally realise that there are many other things to do than to throw silly remarks and ask for apologies when there are no expletives thrown.
What is a @@@Malay?
High life? Well, Selangor and Wilayah went to the opposition. Those are the high life areas, so to speak of, no?
I never said *all* Malay Muslims do any of the above. Notice how I focused on those that have been out of the country to see something else? To go away from the clutches of UMNO rule, and now, the much thrown around statement of “Islam Hadhiri”.
Looking at statistics, from the voter turnout, it looks like those that significantly brought about change were the Chinese and Indians, who are tired of being called just that, and are after being called Malaysians. It seems that the BN was hoping for a better turnout, but the Malays performed an act of silent protest, providing poor voter turnout.
Anyway, its good that I will not be hearing from you again. Its been a “pleasure” dealing with you, and now I can get back to more significant things in life, that don’t involve talking to a “katak dibawah tempurung”.
P/S: I’m sure you are a pious person, who obeys rules, and doesn’t do anything blasphemous. Oh wait, you’re in Qatar, its just a bit hard to do that there, right?
Oh, I just remembered a question I had and maybe your goodself can answer this. TGIF restaurants, popular, yes? Lots of food there is served with Jack Daniels sauce (i.e. they make use of the Jack Daniels liquor in the food, and to make the sauce). These same pans are probably used to make other dishes.
Is TGIF a halal restaurant? I didn’t manage to find a sticker on it anywhere.
Don’t forget, they serve alcohol too… TGIF can’t be the “high life” living, can it?
Reading this: http://www.jeffooi.com/2006/12/christmas_turkey_malaysia_i_we.php was refreshing, quite naturally