Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Of past elections & 'historical facts' in Malaysia - the 'brain-washing'..

How difficult it is to find information about our Malaysian history - our real Malaysian history.

Even information about past election results are so hard to find - and even information of some political parties that existed before, and had strong popular support is so difficult to find. Many Malaysians have no recollection of the coalition of Opposition parties known as the 'Socialist Front' which was the biggest challenge to the Alliance...

In my quest, I have managed to find some information, which I would now like to share:-

Election Results (Only of how many seats Alliance[UMNO,MCA,MIC], then BN won - no info about what other parties won)

1955 General Election Alliance won 51 out of 52 seats contested (98%)
1959 General Election Alliance won 74 out of 104 seats contested (71%)
1964 General Election Alliance won 89 out of 104 seats contested (86%)
1969 General Election Alliance won 74 out of 144 seats contested (51%)

*** The 1st time that the Alliance (now known as the BN) failed to get 2/3rd majority was in 1969.

Coincidentally, May 13 happens - Emergency - Arrests under the ISA...and a lot of jumping parties happened. The jump then was from the opposition to the BN.

...

The Alliance political formula was widened to become a larger political cooperation under the Malay--non-Malay politics to the whole nation. This concept was spread with the formation of a Coalition Government at the Federal and State levels. This cooperation of various and multiple parties was later institutionalized as BARISAN NASIONAL (BN) and was formally registered on the 1st July 1974. Besides UMNO, MCA and MIC, BARISAN NASIONAL was made up of six other parties, which before this was on the other side of the fence.

Those parties were PAS ( which was later expelled from BN ), Parti Progresif Rakyat ( PPP ), Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia ( GERAKAN ), Sarawak United People's Party ( SUPP ), Parti Pesaka Bumiputra and USNO from Sabah. Only DAP and PSRM refused to join the Coalition. BN, which used the new symbol - the 'dacing' had strengthen and stabilize the Malaysian political situation, and relationship among races had never become closer. Later, other political parties, especially in Sabah and Sarawak joined the BN. These parties are Berjaya from Sabah, SNAP and PBDS from Sarawak.

In the 1990's many new parties surfaced to join Barisan Nasional as a result of the political turmoil in Sabah when PBS walked out of Barisan Nasional. These parties are Akar Bersatu, SAPP, LDP, PBRS and PDS. Today BN consists of 14 parties.

The birth of BN signaled the beginning of a new era for Malaysia which is now ruled by a multiple race component parties, a struggle of the united community. Among the main objective of BN is the struggle to strive for cooperation among races, peace, harmony and justice to ensure Malaysia will continue to develop and prosper, in line with vision 2020.- Source:- Barisan Nasional Penang Website

1974 General Elections BN won 135 out of 154 seats contested (88%)

1978 General Elections BN won 130 out of 154 seats contested (84%)

1982 General Elections BN won 132 out of 154 seats contested (86%)

1986 General Elections BN won 148 out of 177 seats contested (84%)

1990 General Elections BN won 127 out of 180 seats contested (71%)

1995 General Elections BN won 162 0ut of 192 seats contested(84%)

1999 General Elections BN won 148 0ut of 193 seats contested(77%)

(BN only got about 56.53% of total votes cast in 1999)

2004 General Elections BN won 198 0ut of 219 seats contested(90%)

2008 General Elections BN won 140 out of 222 seats contested(63%)

Now, there were some political parties that are no more, and this I believe that the Alliance/BN government had a part to play in that.

Amongst these political parties, which once were there and today is no more, are the

Labour Party -formed in 1950's, formed the Malayan Peoples' Socialist Front(or just Socialist Front) on 26/8/1958 with the Partai Rakyat (later known as the Parti Rakyat Malaysia). The SF further consolidated its gains in municipal elections including the City Council of George town, Penang where it won 14 of the 15 seats in the Council during the 1961 Local Elections...

National Convention Party

Parti Negara

United Democratic Party..

* We really have to have proper accurate and independent historical records - so that we can all know what is "historical facts". Many do and will dispute what that Penang UMNO Division leader calls "historical facts"....

** Crackdown by the government on the Socialist Front parties came about in early 60s - and I believe that finally the Labour Party was banned, etc... Only Party Rakyat Malaysia survived this era...

Many of the personalities from these 'demised' parties joined other parties - including also the newly formed GERAKAN.

Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia was formed on 24th March 1968. The six founders of the party were Professor Syed Hussain Alatas of the University of Singapore, Dr. David Tan Chee Khoon, Member of Parliament for Batu, Selangor and former leader of the Labour Party, Dr. J.B.A. Peter, President of the Malaysian Medical Association, Dr. Lim Chong Eu, Member of Parliament for Tanjong, Penang and former President of the United Democratic Party, Professor Wang Gungwu of the University of Malaya, and Mr. V. Veerapan, legal practitioner and former leader of the Labour Party. In its initial stage, the party had drawn its main support from members of the dissolved United Democratic Party, and the English-educated moderates of the Labour Party. Source: Parti Gerakan Malaysia website
Historical facts -- is sometimes history according to the current victors, those in powernow... and today that is the Barisan Nasional led by UMNO, MCA & MIC --- or is it just led by UMNO?

Like the British colonialist, this BN government continues to belittle the freedom fighters of Malaysia that fought the Japanese when the British put their tail between their legs and ran...

Those who stayed and fought for independence from Japanese also set up government thereafter and were able to govern... until they were removed by the returning British colonial government.... 'Communist' was one of the brands used - and many still see 'communists' as very very bad - not really knowing why they were potrayed as 'bad' by the returning British after World War II. Do you know about the Malaysian Peoples Anti-Japanese Army(MPAJA)? Did you know that historical bad relationship between the Japanese and Chinese resulted in Malaysian Chinese being most badly treated compared to the other ethnic groups in Malaysia - resulting also the fact that there were very high numbers of Chinese who were in the MPAJA? Did you know that the 'communist' were the MPAJA or at least a big component of the MPAJA? Do you wonder why all this is not in the History Books that you read?

The belief that the Alliance/BN had never lost its 2/3rd majority is yet another myth. In 1969, they just managed to get 51% of the seats - far worse than in 2008 General Elections.

And what did UMNO-MCA-MIC do -- they got MPs and political parties from the Opposition to jump to their side -- the Alliance(which later had a name change to Barisan Nasional)

Hence, it is hypocritical for some in the BN now to say what they have been saying about MPs and ADUNs who may choose to leave the BN and/or its component parties and maybe join the Opposition Pakatan Rakyat...

People chose the person - the said MP or the ADUN as the Wakil Rakyat - and the Wakil Rakyat may have to do what is best for the people he represents.

There will be no question of a violation of the mandate given by the people - but of course, if you say the people actually voted party and not the candidate, then maybe it is different.

But the people is supposed to vote the candidate - the person. Of course, who he is and what his politics is and what party he runs under may have an influence of the voters choice - but at the end of the day, it is the person that is chosen as the wakil rakyat (the peoples' representative). I have always said that the 'wakil rakyat' first and foremost loyalty must always be to the people - his constituents.

3 comments:

artic turban said...

this article makes me feel reassured; there is still a future for Malaysia
http://kudaranggi.blogspot.com/
Monday, September 08, 2008
Antara pendatang dan penumpang


Pada mulanya saya agak keberatan nak ulas kekecohan yang berpunca ekoran daripada kenyataan ketua UMNO bahagian Bukit Bendera, Pulau Pinang bernama Ahmad bin Ismail. Sama ada benar atau tidak apa yang didakwa dikatakan olehnya mengenai rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina bukan persoalannya kerana isu tersebut sudahpun merebak dan mengapi-apikan keadaan.

Jika tidak ditangani dengan cermat, teliti dan bijak, isu itu boleh ditangguk dalam air yang keruh oleh anasir-anasir yang ingin melihat negara ini hancur serta mengundang campur tangan kuasa asing. Dalam zaman dunia tanpa sempadan dan liputan meluas dan segera oleh media elektronik antarabangsa, apa yang berlaku di sesebuah negara itu tidak dapat disembunyi atau dinafikan.

Isu pokok yang dibangkitkan oleh Ahmad Ismail membabitkan persoalan "menumpang" iaitu rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina adalah penumpang di negara ini. Beliau menjelaskan bahawa ia merujuk kepada zaman pra-Merdeka. Bagaimanapun, sensitiviti rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina telah terguris.

Saya tidak mengenali secara peribadi Ahmad Ismail, tetapi kenal agak rapat dengan Allahyarham abangnya, Abdul Rahim Ismail, pemilik Syarikat Pembinaan Rahim yang pada satu ketika dahulu agak terkenal sebagai sebuah firma pembinaan Bumiputera yang unggul di Pulau Pinang. Saya tidak tahu apa dah jadi dengan syarikat itu selepas Abdul Rahim meninggal dunia.

Secara peribadi, saya tidak setuju dengan apa yang didakwa dikata oleh Ahmad Ismail atas beberapa sebab.

Bagi saya, hampir 90 peratus rakyat Malaysia, khususnya di Semenanjung, adalah pendatang dan kita semua sebenarnya menumpang hidup di bumi Allah. Kita bukan pemilik kekal tetapi hanya menumpang.

Sebagai contoh, saya sendiri adalah keturunan pendatang yang menumpang hidup di bumi bertuah ini. Datuk nenek di sebelah bapa saya berhijrah dari Makkah dan dari Brunei ke sini manakala di sebelah ibu pula dari Hadhramut, Yaman. Kami adalah pendatang dan penumpang sama seperti hampir semua penduduk negara ini khususnya di Pulau Pinang.

Bagi Ahmad Ismail, dia juga datang dari keluarga pendatang dan menumpang hidup di negara ini. Ahmad Ismail tidak boleh menafikan hakikat bahawa datuk neneknya adalah pendatang dari India untuk menerokai penghidupan yang lebih baik dan selesa di bumi bertuah ini.

Perdana Menteri Abdullah bin Ahmad juga tergolong dalam kategori yang sama. Datuknya di sebelah ibu adalah pendatang dari wilayah Guandong, China. Pendek kata, datuk Pak Lah iaitu bapa Allahyarhamah Kailan bernama Hassan Salleh atau Hah Su Chiang adalah seorang pendatang. Beliau berhijrah ke Tanah Melayu dari wilayah Guandong (Kwantung) pada pertengahan abad ke-19 dan menetap di Bayan Lepas sebagai pekebun getah, pesawah padi dan kemudian saudagar intan berlian.

Najib Tun Razak, Timbalan PM juga berasal daripada keluarga pendatang iaitu dari Sulawesi, Indonesia atau lebih senang disebut orang Bugis manakala sepupunya Hishamudin Hussein tidak terlepas daripada darah keturunan Turki.

Datuk nenek mantan PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad juga pendatang dari Kerala, India manakala ibu Almarhum Tunku Abul Rahman berasal dari negeri Siam (Thailand).

Kesultanan Melayu Melaka pun dibuka oleh orang pendatang dari Sumatra bernama Parameswara, seorang anak raja atau bangsawan beragama Hindu.

Dalam sejarah kesultanan Melayu, kita dapati ada yang ditubuh oleh pendatang dari Bugis dan ada pula dari Hadhramut selain dari Minangkabau.

Hampir semua orang Melayu di sini berasal dari luar Tanah Melayu tetapi diiktiraf sebagai "bangsa Melayu" oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Kita adalah "Melayu mengikut takrifan Perlembagaan" iaitu beragama Islam, mengamalkan adat resam Melayu dan bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu. Malangnya, bahasa Melayu nampaknya dimatikan oleh orang Melayu (UMNO) sendiri apabila dinamakan sebagai bahasa Malaysia.

Oleh itu, orang Arab seperti Syed Hamid Albar dan saya, orang Aceh seperti Sanusi Junid, orang India seperti Kader Sheikh Fadzir dan Nor Mohamed Yakcop, orang Bugis seperti Najib, orang Minang seperti Rais Yatim, orang Jawa seperti Mohamad Rahmat dan yang lain seperti dari Madura, Pulau Boyan, Siam, Burma, Yunnan (China) dan selatan Filipina dengan mudah boleh diiktirf sebagai "Melayu".

Mereka diterima sebagai orang Melayu tidak kira sama ada mereka bertutur bahasa Melayu atau tidak di rumah umpamanya si Arab berbahasa Arab, si Jawa berbahasa Jawa dan si Minang berbahasa Minang atupun si Mamak berbahasa Tamil.

Bahasa-bahasa yang disebut itu bukan bahasa Melayu dan jika dilihat dari sudut Perlembagaan Persekutuan, tidak boleh diterima atau diiktiraf sebagai bangsa Melayu. Walau bagaimanapun, atas kepentingan dan faktor politik, semuanya diterima sebagai Melayu dan Bumiputera.

Oleh itu, adalah tidak adil untuk menuding jari kepada orang Cina yang juga kaum pendatang sama seperti orang Arab, India, Aceh, Minang, Batak, Mandailing, Jawa, Madura mahupun Bugis, sebagai menumpang di negeri ini. Kita tidak boleh menafikan bahawa sebilangan besar datuk nenek orang Cina telah berhijrah ke negeri ini semasa Kesultanan Melayu Melaka, bahkan kesultanan-kesultanan terdahulu di Kedah mahupun Terengganu dan Kelantan serta semasa Francis Light berjaya menipu Sultan Kedah untuk menduduki Pulau Pinang pada 1786.

Kita adalah kaum pendatang yang menumpang hidup di negeri ini. Golongan yang boleh diiktiraf sebagai orang asal atau anak bumi tulen adalah mereka yang kita kenali sebagai Negrito, Jakun, Semang, Jahut, Orang Laut, Orang Darat, Senoi dan suku kaum masyarakat Asli lain yang masih menjadi penghuni belantara.

Kita tidak harus lupa akan sumbangan dan pengorbanan semua kaum dan suku kaum untuk membangunkan Malaysia sama ada dari sudut ekonomi, kemasyarakatan, keselamatan dan yang paling penting kesepakatan dan perpaduan. Semua orang yang kena dan seharusnya membayar cukai, berbuat demikian tanpa mengira kaum atau asal keturunan, sama ada pendatang atau penumpang.

Kita semua adalah rakyat Malaysia.

artic turban said...

On a very salient point but off topic I have read all kinds of comments about whats happening with the AHMAD CONTROVERSY.
I would like the readers to calm down and think. I do have a small point to raise to my fellow Malaysians.

I ask everyone to read the article and the comments from the top to the bottom, now I ask you this question, are you Malaysian? or are you MALAY, CHINESE, INDIAN, SIKH, DAYAK, BIDAYU, DUSUN, NEGRITO dan lain lain.

Look at ourselves, how we are insulting each other, bertaubat lah semua, calm down, don't let the pariah corrupt politicians, immaterial of which ever race make your blood boil. what for? Kalau besok berlaku kacau bilau, baguskah? All the foreign investor lari keluar, factory tutup, mata wang kita memang akan jatuh, business slow down atau kena tutup, kita kena buang kerja, nanti macam mana nak beli makan utk keluarga.

WHAT IS HAPPENNING HERE IS ALL SENDWARA AND BORIA, I come from the generation that went through may 13, I have seen families of all races devasted, malay, chinese indians, eurasians, sikhs dll, Don’t forget there is no insurance coverage for WAR OR RIOTS.
You think besok kalau jadi another may 13, your house kena bakar your anak kena bunuh, bini and daughter kena rape, ada insurance kah. will money bring back your agony, where will the culprits like this AHMAD GUY BE WHEN kacau bilau berlaku, guarantee you he will be overseas, this is the way of the crooks, liars, cheaters, conman, corrupters. OR THEY WILL BE HIDING BEHIND STONE WALLS with a lot of body-guards. WHILE THE KUNCHU2 MAT REMPIT AND GANGSTERS GO AND CREATE PROBLEMS and mayhem.
I ask you one question, when you watched the Olympics recently, when our MALAYSIAN BADMINTON PLAYER WAS PLAYING, WERE YOU SUPPORTING HIM?, AS A MALAYSIAN?, AS A CHINESE?, WHICH ONE, MISBUN SIDEK IS HIS COACH, WHEN THEY HUGGED, WAS THERE DISGUST IN YOUR THOUGHTS OR SORROW FOR THE LOSS, to our COUNTRY OUR FLAG.

OR for that matter THE OLDER GENERATION WHO USED TO SUPPORT OR STILL SUPPORT THE MALAYSIAN FOOTBALL TEAM OR HOCKEY TEAM, ARE YOU SUPPORTING THE Malay player only, chinese player, indian player????? siapa??? OR THE MALAYSIAN TEAM.
I used to support the Malaysian team during the time of TITANS, HEROS, OUR GIANTS, yes folks when we actually had a football team worth supporting , with legends like MOKHTAR DAHARI, SOH CHIN ANN, SANTOKH SINGH, ARUMUGAM- SPIDERMAN, I THINK OF THOSE DAYS with nostalgia, we laughed, screamed, cried our hearts out, and when we carried the MERDEKA CUP AFTER , beating , Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and heard the NEGARAKU, WE ALL SANG IN PRIDE, KITA SEMUA TEPUK DADAH KITA sebagai ORANG MALAYSIA.
The question I ask all of you and especially the Pariah Corrupt (who can't seem to get arrested or charged for corruption)BN POLITICIANS, who did you cheer for during all those football games, the chinese player-kah, indian player-kah, singh player kah, or the malay player and of course all the kaum lain lain,? IF THOSE PLAYERS HAD KEPALA LIKE WHAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN HERE THIS DAY, WE SURELY WOULD NEVER HAD BEEN A GOOD FOOTBALLING NATION IN THE 70s and early 80s,.
I plus a lot of people used to support the Bn, for A VERY VERY LONG TIME, but until I opened my eyes and started to see the corruption, under table money, exploitation of religion for political purposes, and nothing seems to happen to these politicians. I don’t see any changes in bn, it is a corrupt regime which will try to stay in Power by hook, crook or even bersumpah atas KORAN. Macam ni pun boleh berlakukah? WHO or WHAT is more insulting, exploitation of religion for political gain? MENGAPA, Don’t we have the courts CIVIL AND SHARIAH?
IN EVERY RELIGION WE ARE ALL TAUGHT THAT THIEVES In every religion We are all taught that stealing is wrong, and society demands thieves ,the corrupt and crooks SHOULD BE PUNISHED and shunned, but in Malaysia it has become a badge of pride, HOW MUCH UNDERTABLE MONEY GUA DAPAT, ALWAYS GUA, GUA, SAYA,SAYA,SAYA.
WHOSE FAULT IS all this, is it the politicians? judges? police? AG? AGUNG? SULTANS? SIAPA?
I say we are all at fault, for allowing this to happen, for not TELLING THE CORRUPT, RASCIST, PARIAH POLITICIANS, that Malaysians yang berbagai kaum, agama dan ajaran DON'T WANT THE CORRUPT TO RULE US, what we are hearing today is BORIA AL SENDIWARA PROPOGANDA by a bunch of looser
SO take a minute and think, IF KACAU BILAU BERLAKU, MAY 13-lah, potong sini, cincang sana, SIAPA MENANG?????,
MELAYU? CHINA? INDIA? Dll?
Or will THE WINNERS BE THE HANTU-SYAITAN, crooks who are bankrupt of ideas, they only know one thing, how to be crooks. Nothing else. SO YOU DECIDE, kalau nak maki-paki ataupun pakai otak, shout intolerable rubbish at each other or to calm down and ask yourself this question,
WHY NOW? WHO WINS? WHO GAINS?
YOU OR THE CROOKED PARIAH POLITICIANS.

Samuel Goh Kim Eng said...

When we take a close look at facts and figures
We sometimes wonder what facts are being figured
And what figures are translated as facts
Whether or not there are any genuine defects

(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 090908
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Tue. 9th Sept. 2008.