Tuesday, November 23, 2021

BN returns, Pakatan Harapan decimated? How is PH different from BN - Position/Policies/Principles ? Party Hoppers OK for PH?

Pakatan Harapan (PKR,DAP and Amanah) Plus LOST significant credibility and support after it came into power after last General Elections...

In voting for an ALTERNATIVE coalition, people wanted changes in laws, practice, policies - not simply changes in who is PM, Ministers, etc.... neither just the prosecution of Najib, Rosmah, Zahid, etc

HOW IS PH DIFFERENT?

- Will they ABOLISH Detention Without Trial Laws - and make sure everyone has the right to defend themselves against allegations and the RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL.... 

- Does PH say Malaysian Mothers have the SAME RIGHTS as Malaysian Fathers?

- Does PH say INQUESTS for all Death in Custody cases, all cases of persons shot dead by police, etc...

- Does PH say ABOLISH Sedition Act - where truth is not a defence for a sedition offence. 

- Does PH policy be for FREE Universal Healthcare provided by the government - ending the BN program of privatizing healthcare?

- Does PH say REGULAR Employment  for Malaysian workers - meaning permanent employment until retirement, retrenchment, or by reason serious employment misconduct - No more short term employments?

- Does PH guarantee NO MORE DISCRIMINATING MPs/ADUNs in terms of government allocations on the basis of which party they belong to..?

There were a LOT OF PROMISES ...and a lot of HOPE...but then a failure to deliver....After the PH Plus Government was ousted in early 2020, some in PH argued that their plans to fulfill electoral promises had been de-railed...and all would have been fulfilled by end of their term, if not for that 'Sheraton Move'...

After GE14,

- well the PH and PH friendly MPs got a much HIGHER constitution allowance/allocations than the Opposition MPs.. (Was this not something the Opposition criticized when BN ruled?)

- Then, the practice of political appointment continued - Directorship/Chairmanship in Agencies,Bodies, GLCs .....even JKKK, Kampung Leaders, Local Councillors... (Remember, that there was a provision in a Federal Law that prevented State governments from holding Local Council elections - even that provision was not repealed - thereafter allowing States to decide to hold lojcal council elections or not...)

- Repeal/amendment of BAD LAWS - Well, using the Societies Act, NEW political parties like MUDA, Pejuang, etc are still prevented registration - and even when the ROS is still doing this ....did the PH speak up --- are they really for freedom of association? Free and fair elections - which also means ease of formation of political parties, more choices for the people...

- PARTY HOPPING - most Malaysians want an end to this - and the fact that Pakatan Harapan (vide PKR) placed 2 former UMNO assembly persons as Pakatan Harapan candidates for the recent Melaka elections is disturbing... FOR just this act of going against the aniti-party hopping principle, maybe PH Chairman ANWAR IBRAHIM should RESIGN...maybe also the heads of DAP, Amanah, etc...

What about corruption and kleptocracy allegations? Well, from PH - we have allegations against Lim Guan Eng, Syed Saddiq...and like other politicians, they claim innocence and say 'political targeting' - let the authorities investigate, and the courts decide...


PH to field ex-CM Idris and Nor Azman in Melaka


Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim today announced it would contest all 28 seats up for grabs in the Nov 20 Melaka state election, including Idris Haron (left) and Nor Azman Hassan.

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan (PH) will field two of the four assemblymen whose defections triggered the collapse of the Melaka state government.

At a press conference today, PH chairman Anwar Ibrahim announced the coalition would contest all 28 state seats up for grabs in the Nov 20 election and revealed its list of candidates. - FMT, 6/11/2021

MALACCA: It was a bitter lesson for Pakatan Harapan (PH). Taking in traitors is suicidal.

By fielding two of the four rebels who engineered the fall of the previous Malacca government under its banner, PH lost dearly in Saturday’s state election.

ADVERTISEMENT

Political analysts believe voters had abandoned PH in protest of its decision to take in Datuk Seri Idris Haron and Datuk Nor Azman Hassan.

PKR, the lead party in the coalition, lost in all the 11 seats it contested, while Amanah won only one of the nine in which it fielded candidates.

DAP also suffered as a result of PKR and Amanah’s move to take in the rebels.

The party, generally more popular with urban voters, had nine candidates in the election but came through with only four seats.

According to political analysts, the low voter turnout also helped Barisan Nasional (BN) secure victory. Only 65.85% of the 495,195 voters turned up to cast their ballots.

Universiti Malaya political analyst Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi noted that BN received only 3% more votes than PH (BN garnered 38% while PH had 35%).

“This shows how protest votes have affected the results.”

PKR and Amanah decided to field Idris and Nor Azman respectively over protests from DAP.

Both men were sacked from Umno when they announced on Oct 4 that they no longer supported Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali, the incumbent chief minister.

ADVERTISEMENT

Sulaiman was sworn in as chief minister again yesterday after BN secured a majority.

Awang Azman said the PH leadership’s failure to listen to the grassroots had resulted in some of their supporters either voting against them or boycotting the election.

“Why the need for PKR and Amanah to name the two Umno ‘frogs’ as candidates? PH could have had better results if it had fielded a local,” he said.

He added that while more people are travelling as restrictions on movement have been eased, it did not mean that voters would rush back to Malacca to cast their votes.

“A huge majority of voters do not live and work in the state and their failure to turn up led to PH’s downfall.”

Awang Azman expressed hope that the PH leadership would learn from the debacle on how important it is to be in tune with the sentiment on the ground.

Universiti Teknoloji Malaysia geostrategist Dr Azmi Hassan agreed that protest votes played a major role in PH’s defeat.

“It is unthinkable that DAP would lose the seats that they were confident of winning. This shows how important a role protest votes by their own supporters can play in elections,” he told theSun.

Azmi said the unhappiness of their supporters translated into PKR losing all its seats while Amanah was able to retake only Bukit Katil, held by the popular former chief minister Adly Zahari.

He pointed out that voter turnout plays a huge role in determining which party wins an election.

“In the case of the Malacca election, PH would have benefited from a large number of voters returning from other states to cast their votes,” he said, adding that BN did not need many to turn up to vote to help it win comfortably.

“In fact, the low turnout has been tremendously helpful to BN.”

Azmi noted that the low turnout had been a big blow to DAP. The party was only able to retain four of the eight seats it won in the general election in 2018.

However, he said PN’s poor showing did not come as a surprise.

“They have no real grassroots support in Malacca,” he said, adding that PN assumed wrongly that using former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as its trump card would win votes.

“The assumption that Muhyiddin is a popular figure has been proven wrong. It is for the same reason that BN did not do the same with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob,” he added.

He said BN knew that Ismail Sabri was still not a prominent face, while using Muhyiddin had made PN an easy target for his critics.

Azmi said the election results also showed that Umno still had the support of the rural Malays, while DAP could still count on the Chinese.

“However, it is clear that PN will find it hard to get Malay support,” he added.

“In fact, the low turnout has been tremendously helpful to BN.”

Azmi noted that the low turnout had been a big blow to DAP. The party was only able to retain four of the eight seats it won in the general election in 2018.

However, he said PN’s poor showing did not come as a surprise.

“They have no real grassroots support in Malacca,” he said, adding that PN assumed wrongly that using former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as its trump card would win votes.

“The assumption that Muhyiddin is a popular figure has been proven wrong. It is for the same reason that BN did not do the same with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob,” he added.

He said BN knew that Ismail Sabri was still not a prominent face, while using Muhyiddin had made PN an easy target for his critics.

Azmi said the election results also showed that Umno still had the support of the rural Malays, while DAP could still count on the Chinese.

“However, it is clear that PN will find it hard to get Malay support,” he added. - Sun Daily, 22/11/2021

 

 

No comments: