Penang May Get A New Government

At a rally on Thursday night in Chinese-dominated Penang, the opposition Democratic Action Party drew some 30,000 people (some reports said 60,000), compared to a few thousand at a speech by Prime Minister Abdullah earlier.


"I think we have broken some new ground," said Jeff Ooi, a DAP candidate. "We are still hoping that the massive crowds will translate into votes. People are disappointed with how the government has been run in the past few years. People are dissatisfied with the inequitable distribution of wealth and opportunities."

Update

BN@Putrajaya 4th-Storey Boys rushed to Penang with final bag of tricks to stop the wind of change blowing ever stronger with 60,000 ceramah crowd last night which collected over RM130,000 in public donations

Marking growing panic in the Barisan Nasional at the strong winds of change rising up in the land, highlighted by last night’s 60,000-strong DAP ceramah crowd at Han Chiang Chinese School grounds in Penang which collected over RM130, 000 in public donations, the Putrajaya Fourth-Storey Boys have rushed up to Penang with their final bag of dirty tricks to check, counter and reverse the tide of change embracing Penang and the whole nation in the 12th general election.

The twin DAP objectives in the March 8, 2008 general election – to deny Barisan Nasional two-thirds majority in Parliament and the Penang State Assembly – seem to be increasingly feasible and within reach, and this is causing panic in Barisan Nasional circles.

Can the Putrajaya 4th-Storey Boys block and reverse the rising wind of change in Penang and Malaysia?

One brain-child of the Putrajaya 4th-storey Boys is the unprecedented live telecast of the Prime Minister to the nation as the final election campaign message of the Barisan chairman, which will be telecast live to the nation over the television channels.

This will be in the form of an interview with the Prime Minister by The Star Group Editor Datuk Wong Chun Wai and TV3’s Fuad Abdul Rahman in the Bual Pilihanraya programme at 9 pm.


"The problem is not with the Malays. The problem is with the corrupt leadership of this country," said Anwar Ibrahim

If last night’s huge turnout at Lembah Pantai is any indication, undecided Malay voters may yet be prepared to throw their support behind the opposition.

"The problem is not with the Malays. The problem is with the corrupt leadership of this country," said Anwar.


Despite a heavy downpour, over 10,000 people of mainly Malay working class gathered at a field behind the Angkasapuri complex to hear de facto PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim’s rallying call for change.

Despite the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition consistently repeating that Anwar is not longer 'relevant', the government-controlled mainstream media appears to have detected the changing mood on the ground and have all guns trained on him.

In recent days, there have been numerous reports quoting Anwar's former friends plus retired politicians all freely condemning the opposition leader's actions when he was an Umno minister in the 80s and 90s.

"My own self, supposedly 'irrelevant' in the arena of Malaysian politics, has been attacked mercilessly day in and day out with an array of libelous accusations. Ironically though, thousands seem to flock to my rallies without ever needing the sops of money or 'entertainment'," said Anwar in a last-minute appeal to the voters.

"From north to south, I am glad to say that we have made the best out of our 13 days of opportunity," he said of the two-week long election campaign.

The PKR leader has crisscrossed the country in a punishing 12-hour daily schedule which takes him to about a dozen non-stop ceramah a night.

The National Front has won every election since independence in 1957, and is expected to win again even though it is unlikely to repeat its 2004 performance when it captured 91 percent of Parliamentary seats.

Tricia Yeoh, director of the Center for Public Policy Studies think tank, predicted the opposition would win between 35 and 38 seats in Parliament, nearly doubling the 19 seats it held before Parliament was dissolved.

"There should be a swing in these seats" due to Chinese and Indians voting for the opposition, Yeoh said. "That's the fear of the BN ... The Chinese and Indian votes will be the important swing votes," she told The Associated Press.

A reduced majority for the National Front in Parliament would be seen as a personal rebuke for Abdullah, who has lost much of the goodwill he received when he took office in 2003, replacing longtime leader Mahathir Mohamad.

Abdullah has been blamed for failing to properly manage inflation, crime, corruption and most importantly ethnic tensions between the minorities and the majority Malays.

Muslim Malays make up 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people, and form the bulk of voters for Abdullah's United Malays National Organization. The party dominates the National Front coalition, which includes Chinese- and Indian-based parties in a power-sharing arrangement that has ensured racial peace in this multiethnic country.

But the minorities have complained of increasing discrimination, citing a 37-year-old affirmative action program for Malays that shows no sign of being diluted despite their rising standards of living. The program gives Malays preference in government jobs, business, education and religion.

The Chinese and Indians are also angry at a string of court decisions in religious disputes that have gone in favor of Malays. Indians were incensed by the demolition of Hindu temples by authorities last year.



Still, large crowds at opposition rallies do not always translate into votes.

"It's your choice but I hope the people think carefully," Abdullah told his rally, warning that the minorities will have no voice in the coalition if they do not vote for the Front.