Malaysia Votes. No, really.

Saturday, March 8, 2008
This is a picture of the rebuild Stadium Merdeka. The relevance? It's not relevant! So why did I post it up? Because I can.

Foreword: All material sourced (without permission) from www.malaysiakini.com Check it out. They have a boxing match-like blow-by-blow account at the right. Very awesome. And I'm politically neutral.

EDIT (9.16pm): Due to the nature of elections, the blog is also a blow-by-blow account. But the latest news is at the BOTTOM. Why? Beats me. I'll try switching it up later on. For now, come in and discuss.

UPDATED! From now on, all latest news will be the TOP of the post, for easier viewing. Updated real-time until about 12 midnight. So come in and discuss the most exciting elections Malaysia has seen.

Previous Updates (for those who haven't scrolled down):
Opposition have taken Penang and Kota Melaka, among others. Teresa Kok has won her Seputeh parliamentary seat with an unprecedented 36,564 majority. She also won the Kinrara state seat with a massive 4,901 majority. And some Facebook groups are very happy. Scroll down for more info. Scroll to the bottom of the site for free music.

10.53 pm: This fascinating night hasn't ended, but this blog post has. I will update the final results tomorrow evening, but until then, I hope you enjoyed your stay. Thanks for making this blog post a great success. Signing off, Wayne.

10.31pm: From tv 9, BN has won by a larger margin than in 2004 in Gemas, I believe. Interesting. BN 'calon' there is a woman, so they're discussing it right now. Interesting stuff.
BN lost in Changkat Jong by about a 1000 to PAS. DAP wins by far in Pasir Bedamas.

10.05pm: PAS' Dr Lo' Lo' Ghazali has won the Titiwangsa parliament seat with a majority of 1,972.

10.01 pm: Unofficial: PKR candidate Charles Santiago has won the Klang parliament seat with 16,975 votes against MCA's Ch'ng Toh Eng.

9.53 pm: IGP Musa has confirmed that the rumours of riots were indeed just rumours. ISA will be invoked against those spreading said rumours. Thank goodness for that.

9.40pm: MORE SHOCKERS!
  • Another BN big gun, PPP's M Kayveas, who is a deputy minister, has lost his Taiping parliament seat. Winner DAP's Nga Hon Ming has told his supporters to have 'zero celebration'.
  • MIC president S Samy Vellu has suffered a shock defeat at the hands of PSM’s Dr D Jeyakumar for the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat which he has held for nine terms. Jeyakumar polled 16,874 votes to Samy's 14,408. Today is Samy Vellu's 72nd birthday. The reference to his birthday must surely be the funniest thing I've seen on Malaysiakini so far.

9.30 pm: RUSH OF UPDATES! After a temporary downtime, Malaysiakini has lots of updates for us. Here they are:

  • Pockets of alleged violence in Klang believed to be caused by opposition takeover have rendered situation in the area 'panicky', according to eyewitnesses there. ''Two persons of Indian ethnicity were attacked by a group of Malays'', claimed one eyewitness there and ''have been hospitalised'' following the serious wounds inflicted by the assailants.
  • About fifteen minutes ago, another woman was again allegedly attacked by a group of Malay assailants and eyewitnesses claimed the target of attacks are on those donning the Hindraf-Makkal Sakthi t-shirts. Police have denied claims of such attacks. If they indeed have occurred, this is a tremendously serious reaction that may further ugly relations between races. We remain hopeful that May 13th will never again happen, but the 'minority' races have nevertheless shown that they can't be taken for granted, with the opposition parties creating history against BN.
  • According to PAS organ Harakah, the opposition party has won 15 of the 36 state seats in Kedah, including seats that were considered Umno strongholds. It needs four more seats to win government.
  • Unofficial result: PKR’s Zuraida Kamaruddin defeated BN’s Azman Wahid in the Ampang parliamentary constituency.
  • Khalid Ibrahim has taken both the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat where he contested against MCA’s Tan Chai Ho and the Ijok state seat against Umno’s Mohd Sayuti Said.
  • PKR vice-president Azmin Ali is leading Umno’s Said Anuar Syed Ahmad in the Gombak parliamentary seat, while Nurul Izzah Anwar is leading in Lembah Pantai against Umno's Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
  • According to Terengganu’s director of election Mustafa Ali, the party (PAS) has conceded defeat in Terengganu, paving the way for BN to retain the state.
  • DAP MP for Bukit Mertajam Chong Eng has advised all opposition supporters to remain calm and not provoke others. She also said they should refrain from having victory parades [sic]. “The Barisan Rakyat must learn how to handle victory or loss with maturity,” said her statement which comes as early polls result indicate a major swing towards the opposition.

9.30pm: With the initial furore over, the massive excitement seems to have calmed down somewhat over the most sensational elections Malaysia has seen. Nevertheless, Malaysiakini appears to be struggling with the massive influx of visitors, a testament to just how gripping the election is this time around.

9.10 pm: Latest report from Terengganu is that Umno and PAS are neck to neck as counting continues in many of the state seats. PAS is said to be leading with eight state seats against Umno's five. At least 17 seats are needed to win the government as there are a total of 32 seats. So there's a bit of a toss up for now, with PAS at a slim lead. Fascinating. PAS doesn't encourage development, however, so time will tell if the state benefits from returning to PAS (in the event that it does, of course.) Kelantan has already been unofficially won by PAS, so that's two states in hand (the other being Penang won by the opposition coalition).

What are your opinions on this new opposition coalition? Same old, same old? Come in and discuss.

No time: From Lim Kit Siang's blog:

"There is a political tsunami in the 12th general election, with the Barisan Nasional suffering probably its biggest setback in history.

From available reports, DAP has won victories, in some cases with huge majorities, in the following Parliamentary seats:

1. Bagan
2. Tanjong
3. Bukit Glugor
4. Ipoh Timur
5. Batu Gajah
6. Petaling Jaya Utara
7. Seputeh
8. Kepong
9. Bukit Bintang
10. Cheras
11. Bandar Kuching
12. Sandakan
13. Segambut
14. Kota Melaka

DAP is leading in the following Parliamentary seats:

1. Sarikei
2. Serdang
3. Klang
4. Taiping
5. Bruas
6. Teluk Intan
7. Jelutong
8. Bukit Bendera
9. Batu Kawan

For state assembly seats, DAP has won

1. Subang Jaya;
2. Teratai

In Penang the three state seats of Tanjong and Bagan have also been won by DAP. Other Penang state seats won by DAP are Air Puteh, Prai, Batu Lanchang, Pulau Tikus and leading in all the other state seats contested by DAP. DAP has also won new state seats in Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johore.

One of the most noted state assembly win is the Sri Tanjong seat of Tawau, Sabah."


He would know, wouldn't he. From Malaysiakini, Lim Kit Siang (DAP) vs Liew Mun Hon (MCA) in Ipoh Timur with DAP leading. Another blow for BN. Cue cheesy picture.

Taken from thesneeze.com

But they're not all lost. Controversial minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor retained his Putrajaya parliamentary seat, where most of the voters are civil servants. He bagged 4,038 votes against PAS' Mohd Noor Mohamad's 1,304. There goes PAS' proclamation of winning Putrajaya=winning Malaysia.

As stated earlier, all information comes directly from Malaysiakini.com and is on an unofficial blow-by-blow basis. Regardless of the 'political tsunami' cited, BN looks pretty much set to retain a majority, but no one is certain whether they will maintain their two third majority this time around.

Here are some groups in Facebook that are, er, doing their part:
And that's just a few. So social networking has finally come into play in Malaysian politics.

Very well, more news on this historical event,

As of 8.25 pm, opposition takes Penang. Unofficially, the opposition will form the state government in Penang for second time in history. The DAP-PKR-PAS combination has collectively won at least 21 seats out of the 40 seats. Remarkable. That's more than half of the seats. But Keadilan + PAS + DAP? That would be a rather bad combination for government. Luckily, it's just the Penang state. Best of luck there. Moving on.

While we wait for the new results, let's take a look at some poems. By me. Naturally.

Tomorrow's World:
As a child, he
Watched with astonishment
At this fascinating medley,
Ate ice creams
In lush parks.
Fell down and knew pain for the first time.
Played and cried and learned.

When he grew older, he
Watched with astonishment
As the world hurtled by.
Ate sleeping pills
To forget the pain.
But woke to sweaty blankets anyway.
Worked and cried and learned.

In tomorrow's world, he
Hopes for world peace and gets a Nuclear War
He hopes for everything he had as a child
Falling without consequence;
Ice cream, and trees with green leaves,
And gets-


This got a lot of good comments from UG. I expect the same from you. Back to politics.

Here's a delightfully funny snippet from Malaysiakini (wait for the punchline):

PKR’s Dr D Jeyakumar is presently leading by 1,300 votes in Sungai Siput. However there are sill more than 20,000 votes to be counted. Samy Vellu has been the Sungai Siput MP since 1974. Samy Vellu claims today is his 72nd birthday.

At 8.15pm, DAP won Kota Melaka, a seat which the party lost in 2004.

And as early as 8.03pm, it was confirmed that incumbent MP for Seputeh, Teresa Kok, has retained her seat with a huge majority of 20,000 votes. She has also won Kinrara, a state seat under Puchong in Selangor.

20,000! Talk about a majority. Not surprising, that. A snipper from her political posters:
BN talks about security. What about family security?
Or something along that line. What does it mean? Beats me.

Oops. 9.02pm update: Teresa Kok has won her Seputeh parliamentary seat with an unprecedented 36,564 majority. She also won the Kinrara state seat with a massive 4,901 majority.

Unprecedented? I'll say! That's mind-boggling! Great job there.


47 Outraged People.:

Anonymous said...

Undeniably, the opposition has taken a lead in many seats. I wonder the outcome.

Wayne. said...

Yes. But not an overall lead, I suppose. We'll see. Now stay here and discuss. =)

Anonymous said...

If it only involves two people, it's called a conversation :P

Wayne. said...

A discussion is still possible. =)

Getting more people to join. Interesting political journey, this.

Anonymous said...

Teresa Kok wins with whopping 36,600 majority - 9.02pm
Teresa Kok has won her Seputeh parliamentary seat with an unprecedented 36,564 majority. She also won the Kinrara state seat with a massive 4,901 majority.

This has to be the best day for her

Wayne. said...

Yes, I do believe she'll be quite pleased. I've updated that detail.

Wayne. said...

Do you suppose I should change it to follow Malaysiakini's style? With latest on top?

Anonymous said...

That would be better actually. Are you posting every update?

Anonymous said...

let's keep our fingers crossed nigga

Wayne. said...

Switched format. Looks scratchy now. Perhaps.

The anonymous is Ruthra, which you would have guessed from the self-name-calling.

vchi said...

It is undeniable that Barisan will form the next government. However, the question is how many states will fall, and whether Barisan will retain its 2/3rds majority.

With international observers commenting that this election will be the dirtiest ever in the history of Malaysia, don't be suprised if Barisan brings in a few thousand postal votes to corrupt the wants of the people.

Wayne. said...

Nice to see you, Victor. Perhaps we could exchange links after this?

And of course. CNN and BBC are covering the elections sporadically, I saw that there were some demonstrations going on. Postal votes? Pak Lah spoke out today against those claims.

Anonymous said...

go BN

Wayne. said...

Hello, second anonymous/Andrew Man. Nice to see some support for our government.

vchi said...

Our constantly sleep deprived soon to be ex PM can lie all he wants, he will never fool the rakyat. Postal votes are votes by army personnel and overseas Malaysians. It is usually 95% for BN hence it leads to suspicions that there is vote rigging.

link exchange? sure. My only active blog is thebadmintonblog.blogspot.com

Ladolf Zhen Huitler said...

My only hope for the Opposition is that it destroys BN's chances of winning a two-third majority. A once-given 92% mandate is more than enough for any of us to tolerate, in Malaysian history.

Wayne. said...

Yes, he spoke out against claims that they were 'rigged', as you say.

Army voting was yesterday, by the way. Interesting to note that. Undoubtedly, most of them vote for BN. And Blogspot seems to be collapsing under the election wave. It's taken me 5 refreshes to update my post.

Wayne. said...

Hello, Zhen Hui. Nice sentiment. But I do think the opposition coalition poses a greater danger to Malaysia, particularly because Anwar would be instated as PM.

And we all know what would happen then.

Ahem, but yes, perhaps BN could do with a knocking down of their majority. I'm remaining politically neutral for this blog.

Anonymous said...

Will Barisan Rakyat work together to form a government?

vchi said...

ivan: the opposition will, in my opinion, work tgether

Wayne. said...

In my opinion too. Because PKR-PAS-DAP have already won Penang. As I stated earlier (in my comment or post, I forgot), I fear that such a coalition would be another BN.

And Anwar would eventually become PM, which is the worst case scenario.

vchi said...

oh give Anwar a break!

anything is better than the present regime!

Wayne. said...

Ah, that's the problem with that line of thinking.

Do you have any idea what Malaysia would be with Anwar? Anwar banned any non-Malays from holding posts in the education department - or any senior governmental position, for that matter. And that isn't even the tip of the iceberg.

The man is dangerous and stops at nothing for his ambition. There's a large difference between that and an apathetic government. Don't vote for a Hitler because you perceive our government to be too apathetic.

Anonymous said...

I suppose giving in to the narrow mindedness of PAS would be better than the current incumbent.

Wayne. said...

I recall you saying 'go bn'.

And why do you think so? Bear in mind that PAS is against development of any kind as they want to retain the 'traditional values and lifestyle' of Malays.

Anonymous said...

Yes, actually, nothing's wrong with Anwar :)

Anonymous said...

I was being sarcastic.

Anonymous said...

PAS will move against development in the cost of Malay ethnic traditions.

Wayne. said...

Nothing's wrong with Anwar? My, what a waste of my time typing that comment.

And I'll stop updating the post soon. It's a bit taxing and Blogspot and Malaysiakini are crumbling under traffic.

Anonymous said...

My reply came a little late. You don't suppose he's become a lil more open regarding matters? Also, with other characters on the chess board, i'm not sure if Anwar would be able to repeat the past.

Wayne. said...

Which basically means they are against development in any manner. You should refresh your views.

Wayne. said...

By the way, Charles Santiago has won Klang. Keadilan. Wonder who won Bdr Tun Razak.

vchi said...

you guys are so brainwashed by the BN propaganda... Keadilan cannot form the government. PAS cannot form the government. They need to work TOGETHER to form the government, together with DAP. The last thing that is going to happen is DAP becoming another MCA. I don't see how DAP will become MCA. hence, non Malays won't die unlike what the BN propaganda machine has fed to the Malaysian public.

Wayne. said...

Ivan, update your intel. He isn't as good as people think he is, simply because he isn't a proper alternative to the incumbent. By the way,

PAS' Dr Lo' Lo' Ghazali has won the Titiwangsa parliament seat with a majority of 1,972.

vchi said...

don't flatter yourself - it takes much more than a Malaysian general election to crumble blogspot/google's machinery.

Wayne. said...

Refrain from sweeping statements, Victor. BN hasn't been spreading propaganda that opposition=death and neither are we believing in it.

DAP will never form the government because they lack focus, direction, and proper leaders.

Wayne. said...

I have to refresh at least three times to edit a post in Blogspot. And Malaysiakini is intermittently suffering from downtime. So I think I know what I'm talking about, hmm?

Anonymous said...

I agree with Wayne. DAP has always been opposing and never leading. It would be a new platform for them.
Sharizat loss.

Wayne. said...

Hmm. www.hotmail.com

BN confident of keeping Kelantan. LOL.

Anonymous said...

SAMY- i salute you! but bye bye.
Nurul Izza- the Obama of bangsar.

Wayne. said...

Finally Samy Vellu lost. On his birthday. Haha. That was a funny touch by Malaysiakini.

Anonymous said...

Unofficial: Zam loses in Sungai Petani - 10.15pm

I bet this was influenced by that interview with Al-Jazeera

Wayne. said...

For now, Andrew (anonymous #2) will be leaving the discussion. We're continuing in an MSN conversation. I don't foresee a further rush in comments, but I'll leave this page on anyway.

Thank you for such a constructive discussion. I hope you enjoyed your stay at the House of Jupiter.

Wayne. said...

Oh, which interview? I didn't watch.

Anonymous said...

It was an interview about the BERSIH protest.

Wayne. said...

Interesting. I'm on TV9. The first time PAS won in Perak = Changkat Jong. DAP win like hell in Pasir Bedamar.

Wayne. said...

So, that's it. The tentative end to today's blog comment marathon. 47 comments so far, the most we've ever had. Thank you for supporting the House of Jupiter. I hope you've all enjoyed your stay.

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