IN envisioning federal power, one of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s trickiest points is where to place the DAP (read, a Chinese Malaysian) in the executive line up. As prime minister? God forbid, not in this Malay-Muslim majority country. As deputy prime minister? But what about PAS?
Wong Chin Huat
The moon rises
By Wong Chin HuatIN the midst of the 2009 Perak constitutional coup, embattled Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin won many Malaysians over with his moral courage, steadfastness and calm. He became the face of Malaysians who opposed an absolute monarchy.
Class vs ethnic politics
By Wong Chin HuatIT would be a mistake to think that Datuk Ibrahim Ali is a true champion of the Malay Malaysian poor. But it would be equally silly to think that the Malay Malaysian poor do not support or sympathise with his call. After all, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s failure to increase support in Malay Malaysian rural […]
Signs from Sibu
By Wong Chin HuatWHAT is the biggest significance of the Sibu by-election outcome? I now believe it is not that Sarawak Pakatan Rakyat (PR) won its first seat since the recent establishment of its Sarawak chapter or that Barisan Nasional (BN) remains five seats away from retaining its parliamentary two-thirds majority. It is the outright rejection of clientelism […]
Sibu – another referendum
By Wong Chin HuatDATUK Seri Najib Razak called the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election a referendum on his premiership. The justification was rather obvious as it was formerly a Barisan Nasional (BN) stronghold with an ethnic composition mirroring Peninsula Malaysia’s. The campaign was largely fought by Umno, even though the BN’s candidate was from MIC. Sibu has also been […]
Saving the police
By Wong Chin HuatWILL the late Aminulrasyid Amzah be the last victim of state violence? Like political aide Teoh Beng Hock‘s death in custody — the anniversary is two months away — the extra-judicial killing of Aminulrasyid has caused a lot of anger because he was not one of the “usual suspects”. Screencap of the Facebook groupWhat if […]
BN victory or disaster in Hulu Selangor?
By Wong Chin HuatONE of the best ways to understand the Hulu Selangor by-election is to look at the split-voting phenomenon. That happens when the same voter casts votes for different parties in simultaneous parliamentary and state elections. In 2008, due to the personality and ethnicity of the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate, MIC’s Datuk G Palanivel, BN suffered […]
Saving Parliament from the EC
By Wong Chin HuatI COULD not believe the Election Commission (EC)’s admission that 228 (0.35%) voters had been transferred out of the Hulu Selangor parliamentary constituency to the neighbouring Selayang parliamentary constituency. Now, it is not news that voters get transferred involuntarily — you may even call it voter trafficking or abduction — from their neighbourhoods to faraway […]
By-elections and bumiputeraism
By Wong Chin HuatCorrected at 2.59pm, 16 April 2010 WHILE by-elections can hardly be considered referendums, they are nevertheless mid-term elections and often have far-reaching implications. The triple by-elections of April 2009 Remember the triple by-elections of April 2009? What if newly-minted premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak‘s Barisan Nasional (BN) had won all three handsomely? Would he then […]
Why fight?
By Wong Chin Huat(Boxing gloves by januszek / sxc.hu) DOES it matter if the MCA stops fighting after the 28 March 2010 party election? On one level, I don’t think so. After all, just 10 days after its elections during which Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek made a remarkable comeback as party president, the MCA’s newsworthiness has […]
