Why People Alliance lost in Bagan Pinang

The People Alliance(PAS - PKR - DAP) needs to carry out a serious postmortem to find out why and how it was thrashed in Bagan Pinang.

Posters of the Kg Buah Pala demolition were found around Ladang Siliau in Bagan Pinang on nomination day – Photo by Tiger

In some ways, the NF victory was not unexpected. Perhaps the scale of the defeat surprised many. But a few keen political analysts noticed something amiss ahead of polling day and predicted that Isa would win comfortably as noted in my post .

So far, many have pointed to some obvious reasons for the NF’s landslide win:

Pull factors:

• Isa was a popular, well-known – albeit tainted – local candidate.
• Bagan Pinang is an New United Malays National Organisation stronghold.
• All kinds of promises and enticements were made, especially to army personnel about improved facilities.
• Questions about the postal balloting system persisted.
• And of course, the mainstream media were used in the campaigning (but then the last three points were no different from previous by-elections – except there were more postal ballots here).

Push factors:

The problems caused by certain Pas politicians in Selangor, and the bad press the party received over attempts to ban concerts and the like could have contributed to the defeat. In many ways, these PAS politicians have not learnt from GE1999, when they mistook increased support for their party (then under the Alternative Front) as a vote for more conservative religious laws and an Islamic state. But then, the party was mauled in GE2004.

These Pas politicians are now making the same mistake by assuming that the support for Pas in GE2008 was because voters want more conservative religious regulations even at the local level in places like Selangor. But then, look what happened in Bagan Pinang…

“(The loss is the) result of Pas screwing everything, I think,” wrote a political scientist, who happens to be a Muslim, in a text message to me. He added that the result was expected and about time too, and lamented the PKR’s inability to stand up to Pas. He pointed out that “Anwar’s gutless stand” in this respect suggests that “they (PKR) are prepared to cut cards with the devil to get Anwar to power at all costs”.

In a way, the Pakatan defeat could have a silver lining: it could strengthen the hand of the moderates within Pas such as Mat Sabu, Khalid Samad, Husam Musa and of course, Nizar.

PKR’s own inability to rein in certain elected reps from upsetting Pakatan supporters might have also cost the alliance some votes. DAP-PKR bickering, intra-party infighting and the perception that some Alliance elected reps are more interested in securing positions of power instead of being focused on serving the people surely did not help the campaign either.

As for the DAP, one observer emailed me, “If you get the chance to speak to LGE, tell him to get his Pakatan act together. Take this ‘probation’ period of five years to do house cleaning and remove all the baggage in the party. Or else it will just be a one-time surprise.” The same would apply to other Pakatan leaders and their parties.

The demolition of Kg Buah Pala – and the loss of the Makkal Sakthi(People Power Party) factor – also would have eroded support for the Alliance especially in estate areas.

Tiger, a Chinese Malaysian campaigning for Islamic Party(PAS) in Bagan Pinang who had visited Kg Buah Pala, sent me the photo of the posters above along with the following remarks:

This was one of National Front’s tactics to win the Indian vote, and they did win the three Indian-Malaysian majority voting districts of Siliau, Ladang Atherton and Sua Betong – which in General Election 2008 were all won by Pas.

The issue of KBP will not be forgotten for a long time to come, as an example of social injustice perpetrated by a supposedly pro-people new state government.

If People Alliance cannot understand this, they do not deserve to rule.

Harsh words, no doubt, especially when the Kg Buah Pala deal was approved by the BN. But perception in politics is also important. Did the Alliance administration in Penang convey the impression that it was trying its level best to live up to its election promises and save the village by delaying the land transfer while it carried out an in-depth probe?

Among some segments of the middle-class, political betrayal may be par for the course. But when politicians make promises to the working class who are living on the margins of society, they’d better live up to them.

I was at the Freedom Film Festival in Penang on Saturday and one of the documentaries screened was about the demolition of Kg Berembang, a Malay settlement (and its surau) in Selangor, in 2007. One of the facilitators pointed out that the demolition swung popular support away from the NF in surrounding area during GE2008.

Just as Kg Berembang was one of the many factors contributing to the “perfect storm” that unleashed the political tsunami of 8 March 2008, the effect of the Kg Buah Pala demolition on the psyche of villagers and settlers elsewhere cannot be easily dismissed (even though Guan Eng is confident that the people of Penang are behind him).

The legal issues aside, it’s not going to be easy for either the National Front or People Alliance to allow the wholesale demolition of villages in future without broad-ranging consultation with settlers especially in cases where they have lived on the land for generations. The gut-wrenching spectre of grandparents, parents and children wailing and sobbing as their homes are wrecked will extract in its wake a heavy political price.

Which brings me to the final point, brought to my attention by a political economist: the issues raised by the Pakatan tend to come from a middle-class perspective (issues such as corruption, civil and political rights – important as they are). But there is a class divide here: people living on the threshold of poverty are struggling to make ends meet, to put food on the dinner-table and to provide for their families. This is not to say that democracy, accountability and human rights are not important. Of course they are.

But economic issues do play a part. Has Alliance clearly articulated its socio-economic agenda (apart from welfarism) when it is so obviously business-oriented? Does it even have a common position on a minimum wage and workers’ rights, for instance? What about insisting that all plantation firms provide their workers with adequate housing?

How does the Alliance propose to deal with rising food prices? Many are constantly complaining about ever-increasing food prices in the market. How can the Alliance talk about lowering or stabilising food prices when all its attention is on business and industry such that it barely talks about sustainable agriculture and farming?

And yet, higher food prices will hurt the poor the most. From what we have seen, the Pakatan seems unable to connect with the issues that matter most among many segments of rural voters – farmers, estate workers, fisherfolk – who remain cut off from the mainstream of development and the media.

So many lessons to be learned from Bagan Pinang – especially the fact that voters cannot be taken for granted anymore by either the NF or Alliance.

This was a defeat waiting to happen and it should serve as a reality check and wake-up call for the Alliance.

If the lessons are heeded, then this by-election defeat could be a blessing in disguise for the Alliance in its long-term struggle. If not…u will what will going happen on the next General Election.

Teoh Beng Hock – most likely sodomised & murdered

That’s 80% likelihood.

GREAT! It had to take a Thai, a well known expert, to tell us that Teoh Beng Hock may have been sodomised and murdered.

Wasn’t it clear from the beginning that it couldn’t have been suicide?Therefore, Dr Pornthip, the Pathologist’s discovery isn’t shocking but expected.

What does that say about our own forensic experts? Who do we believe?

Now that Pornthip, aka Dr Death, has come up with this revelation, what happens?

Colourful Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand made explosive revelations at the Teoh Beng Hock inquest this morning by suggesting that the political aide could have been strangled before falling from the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam.

She noted that round marks on Teoh’s neck indicated ‘manual strangulation’.

NONEShe further said that Teoh’s skull fracture was not typical of an injury from a fall, adding that injury to his anus could be caused by penetration with an object before his fall.

This, she said, was based on pictures taken from the site of his fall.

She added that Teoh’s death was 80 percent homicide and 20 percent suicide.

Pornthip was testifying as an expert witness at the inquest which is being held to determine the cause of Teoh’s death.

She is the director and co-founder of the Thai Justice Ministry’s Central Institute of Forensic Science and is well-known for investigating complicated homicide cases.

Teoh, the 30-year-old political secretary to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, had been summoned to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office at the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam to be questioned over the irregular disbursement of state funds on July 15.

He was found dead on the fifth floor service corridor of the building the following day.

Malaysia for free and fair elections.

Show your fangs Mafrel. Don't let it be said that you are toothless.
By Zorro.

MAFREL (Malaysia for free and fair elections) is the only approved body to monitor elections in the country. They have done credible work. They have exposed how the Election Commission colluded with the BN to engineer suspicious wins for the latter. Their latest was when they questioned the 14 missing boxes at the Batang Ai by-elections and also why they were not allowed to accompany the ballot boxes ( votes were not counted at polling stations as is always the practice, but were transported to the counting centre.) PAS recent call to allow the soldiers to vote like regular voters will never see fruition.

This is an opportune time for MAFREL to really show teeth and STAND UP for fair and free elections. They must insist that they SUPERVISE the postal votings IN THE ARMY CAMP. They have sufficient time to work out the mechanics. But MAFREL must start NOW.

Of cow heads and arrogant Muslims

I wish to comment on the 'cow head' incident in Shah Alam. As a Muslim and as a Malaysian citizen I do not support such a wanton display of disrespect for Islam and for Malaysia . As a Muslim, my readings of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad's traditions or hadiths have taught me to respect animals and other religions. With respect to animals, the Prophet warned Muslims against overburdening animals in carrying objects. The Prophet explained a story of how a prostitute was forgiven her sins by the simple act of giving a thirsty dog a drink. The cow is one of the animals which Muslims slaughter not just for food but also as a sacrificial offering of our thankfulness to Allah as well as remembering Abraham's 'sacrifice' of his son Ismail. The cow is thus 'holy' to Muslims as well as to Hindus. Muslims sacrifice a cow for the aqiqah ceremony or during the Qurban celebrations. Thus as a Muslim, we must respect animals that become our food as well as our symbolic act of sacrifice.Standing or putting one's foot on a dead cow is a 'biadab' act that speaks of a person steeped in racial bigotry and of a person low in education of Islam. With respect to other religions, there were occasions where the Prophet taught me about my attitude towards them. Once, the Prophet stood up as a sign of respect when the body of a Jew was carried to the grave. When dispatching the army to a campaign, the Prophet warned the soldiers from desecrating houses of worships, those who reside in them, the young and the old and even trees should not be cut down if necessary. Never had the Prophet taught me to desecrate another person's religion. The great Indonesian scholar Hamka wrote in his magnum opus, Tafsir Al-Azhar that there are hundreds of thousands of 'Nabi' and they might even be the founders of other religions. It is common to find other religious faiths making fun of Islam and Muslims but as a Muslim I will never be allowed by my religion to make fun of other religions much less to desecrate them. As a Malaysian citizen, I wish to ask why these people who showed such contempt for the religion of the Hindus not be arrested under the Sedition Act? Were these people given permits by the police? If so why were they granted permits to desecrate another religion? Why were they not stopped and told to disperse? If Hindus can tolerate the Muslim call for prayers five times a day for the rest of their lives, what disruption can a Hindu temple be? I live next to a Hindu Temple about 150 meters away and I observe a procession thrice or twice a year. It is quiet 362 days of the year. Lastly, if these residents were proven to be members of any political party or parties, their membership should be revoked in order to ensure that we should not tolerate any political entity that uses racial hatred as their means of achieving political ends. If not, then the said party or parties should be outlawed and their registration terminated immediately. After more than 50 years of merdeka, I still cannot raise five children without the threat of racial disharmony and hatred. What does that say about our present leadership and future of our country?

Believe it or not have something happen with corpse of Teoh Beng Hock

Come Wednesday the Inquest on the circumstances surrounding the death of Teoh Beng Hock will be conducted by the Magistrate court. I thought that excerpts from Dr Raficks Part 1 to Part 7 postings would kind of prepare us for what to expect. Before he embarked on these postings he wrote on 18 July 09:

The death is a bad omen for the country. It is a bad sign internationally. In the mind of the people, the action of the police and MACC(Malaysian anti -Corupption Commision) has always been slanted. The death of a politician while he is in the compound of MACC raises a lot of questions. No one that I talk to believes that it is an accident. Speculation is rife that it is murder or an accident while being interrogated. There is a strong rumor that he died in the hands MACC while being interrogated and his body was thrown out the window to cover up the death. The government can say it views the incident seriously and looking at setting up a royal commission but how many people really trust the present government?
In reality with the current BN government is perceive as muscling the opposition using the country enforcement agencies. The movement of the Malaysian Non BN(National Front) political parties has always been monitored. I would not be surprised that there is a dedicated task force that is monitoring the movement, actions and decisions made by the PR MPs, ADUN’s and State Exco’s
The way the Police and the MACC conduct its business in this country has not given the people the confidence that they are truly independent. The truth is far less importance then the perception in the eyes of the public. Right now the image of the MACC and the RMP(Royal Malaysian Police) is in a bottomless pit. This will have a big impact on BN

Following are excerpts from his 7 part postings; The photos presented here do not follow the sequence of the postings. For full screen images, click on the pics.

The following writing is done based on assessment of various images and writings on the mainstream media (MSM) as well as the online media. I am trying to understand the tragedy that took place at Plaza Masalam. It would be great if I have access to MACC office and location where the body was found but without such access, readers can expect some gross margin of error in my writing. Do let me know what the errors are so that we can come to a clear conclusion on what transpired



MACC death tragedy – My untrained CSI techniques

The following writing is done based on assessment of various images and writings on the mainstream media (MSM) as well as the online media. I am trying to understand the tragedy that took place at Plaza Masalam. It would be great if I have access to MACC office and location where the body was found but without such access, readers can expect some gross margin of error in my writing. Do let me know what the errors are so that we can come to a clear conclusion on what transpired

The second item of concern is that his body posture is lying on his right side. Why not face down? A man that is conscious at the time of his fall is most likely to fall on his face flat down or his back if he is being pushed through a window. If he had jumped I would expect that he would have ended leg first. The pictures are not conclusive enough to indicate any lower limb fractures. Post mortem would be able to shed some light.

I believe that he had died prior of hitting the slab roof the 5th floor podium based on the limited amount of blood on the roof. If his was alive and his heart was pumping, then there would be a large amount of blood on the roof if he did not die instantly.

I tried to piece the time Tan met TBH(Teoh Beng Hock) and according to my source, when Tan left a short while later the sun was brightly coming up. He had estimated the time based the sun. I checked the time for sunrise in Shah Alam for the last few days. The sun is up at about 549am.

Assuming that by the time Tan came out from the building, it was about 549-555 a.m., I estimate that Tan saw TBH at about 530am. This means that TBH was indeed alive at 530am. This is about 8 hours before he was found dead.

If he had been alive upon exiting the window and died upon impact, I expect to see more blood on the roof. The blood would take about 15 to 30 minutes to clot properly and hence in that amount of time, the blood would ooze through any open wound profusely. This is very true especially there is an arterial bleed.

In my previous article, I theorized that either one or two person carried the late TBH whom had died for about 30 mins to the window. He carried the person with TBH on his right side and places it on the windows edge. As he pushed the body out the window, the latch got hooked to the pants at the centre of the trousers. TBH weight and the action of trying to push the body down literally tore the pants towards the left pocket.

Last night I received an email from an anonymous (Lets call him Mr. A) person who claims to be working with the mainstream media. I am not sure whether it is true or not but he claims that all MSM media will be running stories in the next few days that the wound on TBH base left hand (the media will say wrist) will be played up as a sign of suicide. It dawn upon me that I have not said anything about the triangular mark on the right hand.

I was alerted by some readers on the existence of a new blog which has made serious allegations against 2 DAP State Exco members on purportedly explaining “DAP corruption modus operandi” in Selangor at www.t4tbh.blogspot.com. I suspect that it is part of a counter strategy that is being deployed by certain people to deflect the current issue surrounding TBH. Who are they? I can safely assume that what you ever think is right.

Can the police be trusted to investigate the MACC?

This article is written by Raj Kumar, the son of the late Tenggaroh state assemblyman S Krishnasamy, who was allegedly shot by a hitman as he was entering the lift in the state MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress)building.

Until now, Raj Kumar and his family has still not gotten the answers they deserve from the police. Can we trust the police to investigate MACC and others involved in Teo Beng Hock’s case?

You know the answer. Thank you, Raj, for this article that I just wanted to share with my readers. A kind of solidarity message for Teo and his family.

hi,
Like many of you, i read the news of Mr.Teoh with so much anger and frustration. He should not have died that way. He was just at the brink of a new life. He had someone waiting for him, he had his parents thinking about him, he had friends who shared common thoughts with him. He was not a street criminal, he was not a person with countless criminal records. He was serving the public thru his employment with Stateman Ean. Yet, why did he end up dead like this?

Many questions pop up when i read about the death of Mr.Teoh. why was he interrogated till 3.45am in the morning? What was the case about? I know even murder suspects do not get interrogated like this. In fact they get released in the middle of the night and one even got a high ranking government job after that. In this case, was it because Mr.Teoh was with an opposition State Legislativer?

And why would someone want to sleep in the MACC(Malaysian Anti - Corruption Commision) office after being interrogated when he had his car right below? Wouldn’t he want to call his fiancee or his boss or friends? What happened to his phone? If he was too tired or weak, shouldn’t the officer at MACC helped Mr.Teoh to call his boss? Instead, they allowed him to sleep on the couch? I find the story a bit hard to swallow.

Again, I am sure we will go through the same process, where people will make noise and the police will drag or postpone the case till everyone forgets about it. Then little by little, whatever evidence will go missing. The suspects(if there are any) will get away free. Finally, police will come up and say that there are no suspects and the police have done a very satisfactory job.

First of all, how can the police be trusted to investigate another agency when the police themselves have very poor record of solving crimes? Just look at the unsolved cases in the last 2 years only, please dont see any further than 2 years( you will be utterly disgusted). There are tonnes of them unsolved or closed under very shady circumstances. Moreover, police and MACC reports to the same boss. The police must be free from all forms of ties to the suspects. That is why we need the IPCMC(Independent Police Complaint and Misconduct Commision). Now who is going to investigate the MACC?

Can we trust our police to do it? How do we know that police did a “great” job? How do we know that police did not cover up? How can we even believe a single word that comes out from the police when all their actions have been questionable?

I hope all the leaders will get to the very bottom of this case. Please do not let the police lie to us anymore.

Pol-sec found dead near MACC office

Teoh

SHAH ALAM: An aide to a Selangor state executive councillor who was assisting the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) probe into allegations of misuse of allocations by several state assemblymen was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam here – nine floors below where the MACC office is located.

A janitor found the body of Teoh Beng Hock, 30, political secretary to Ean Yong Hian Wah, at about 1.30pm.

It is learnt that Teoh, who was taken in for questioning by the MACC on Wednesday evening, was released from the commission’s Selangor headquarters, located on the 14th floor of the 20-storey building, at about 3.45am yesterday.

MACC director of investigations Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull said Teoh, a former journalist with Chinese daily Sin Chew Jit Poh, was released after his officers had finished recording his statement.

He said Teoh did not leave the building and was seen loitering about, and had asked to rest for a while in the pantry.

“No one saw him after that until we were alerted about a body found on the fifth floor at about 1.30pm,” he said, adding that Teoh was a witness in the investigation.

It is learnt that the MACC office does not have any CCTV installed.

Ean Yong, the Seri Kembangan state assemblyman, who was at Plaza Masalam, said he only learnt of Teoh’s death when told by journalists that a body was found at about 4pm and that it could be Teoh’s.

“I was on my way to the MACC office because I had not been able to contact Teoh from the time he had been taken in for questioning,” he said.

Sudden death: The Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam where Teoh's body was found

Ean Yong said he had gone to the MACC office at midnight on Wednesday and asked to see Teoh but was not allowed to see him. So, he left at 1.30am.

Several DAP leaders, including adviser Lim Kit Siang and Selangor exco member Teresa Kok, met the MACC top brass yesterday to seek information about Teoh’s death. They were briefed by MACC deputy chief commissioner Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamad.

A candelight vigil was held for Teoh at the building last night.

At about 4pm on Wednesday, five MACC officers raided the office of Ean Yong at the state secretariat building here. They were said to be looking for documents on how state allocations were being spent.

During the raid, the officers seized a laptop computer and a central processing unit from the exco member’s office. They also took in Teoh for questioning.

Ean Yong is among seven assemblymen and exco members being investigated by the MACC for allegedly misusing state allocations channelled through the Petaling District Office.