“Up till yesterday we were told by Tian Chua that the problem will be resolved. However, at 11pm last night, he told us that PKR vice-president Azmin Ali did not want to give way for PSM because he prefers a Malay candidate to contest the Semenyih seat.
We are very unhappy that they’ve used racial reasons to deny us the seat…” – PSM Sec-Gen, Arutchelvan, quoted by FMT.
Is this true?
I am not the only one who wishes to know if this true.
About 30,000 non-Malay voters who are expected to cast their vote in Gombak would like to know too.
Is this true?
The People's Parliament 
Philip
April 19, 2013
If that’s true, perhaps ABU should make sure Azmin loses his seat in Parliment.
He’s also a root cause of ABU’s difficulties in Sabah and the single biggest reason why people are doubtful about PKR’s future behaviour.
Shouldn’t pose a charter problem for ABU. In my book, Azmin Ali IS Umno-Within-PKR.
lizzie
April 19, 2013
What a briliant idea… if Azmin is the cause of problems of bring pakatan forward into a viable 2 party system, the voters of Gombak should do the needful.
looes74
April 20, 2013
I fully supported that Azmin must go…..In fact PKR should win less…..DAP should be the main component part in PR
Vick
April 19, 2013
Maybe it is just his strategy to put his allies within the party(pkr) in places like Semenyih. So that when things dont go his way or if he is going to have “irreconcilable” differences with PR or PKR after GE13 he can threaten them to leave ( FROGGIE JUMP) along with his allies hence threatening the position of PR in Selangor hence threatening the power of PR at federal level.
annabrella
April 19, 2013
Malaysia – Death of a Democracy written in 1969 by John Slimming.
Pages 11 to 15: The Election Campaign
The immediate causes of the race rioting in Kuala Lumpur were the results of the general election, climaxing a campaign which had been fought, quite blatantly, on emotional, racial issues.
The general election of 1969 was the country’s third since Independence. In the first, in 1959, the Alliance gained a two-thirds majority; in the second, in 1964, they were again returned in even greater strength: but the first elections, with the newness and excitement of ‘Merdeka’ (Independence) and the second, during the insecure period of Indonesian confrontation, provided the government with a unifying factor which held the Alliance together and made Tengku Abdul Rahman’s brand of paternalism acceptable. In 1969 no such unifying factor existed. Also, in the last elections, more Chinese than ever before were eligible to vote. One of the requirements for citizenship is ten years’ residence in Malaysia. Many Chinese were ‘new citizens’ who had not voted in the earlier elections.
The Alliance partnership was opposed, in the main, by the left-wing, predominantly Chinese, Democratic Action Party (DAP), the moderate Gerakan Ra’ayat Malaysia (the Malaysian People’s Movement) and the right-wing Pan Malayan Islamic Party (PMIP).*
The Alliance slogan, ‘Vote Alliance For Racial Harmony’, appeared on posters and stickers throughout the country and yet, collectively, politicians of all parties created a situation which called for more racial voting than ever before.
From the outset there was no doubt that the Alliance would retain a working majority. Malaysia had made rapid strides since Independence; it was one of the few countries in south-east Asia that had consistently maintained a favourable balance of trade. The Malaysian dollar was respected in the West. Nevertheless, some government leaders were nervous and apprehensive; they were used to their large majority which enabled them to amend the constitution at will. One politician likened their position to that of a wealthy man, accustomed to living on $20,000 a year, who suddenly finds that he has to make do on $15,000.
One of the most disturbing factors, during the campaign, was the insistence of some government leaders that there was no point in voting for the Opposition.
At one election rally, Tan Siew Sin, leader of the MCA and, at the time, Minister of Finance, said: ‘The ordinary voter should …remember that while a bigger opposition is all right in theory, in practice it means that those voters represented by opposition members will suffer, and suffer hideously, merely to enjoy the luxury of having someone there in Parliament, scolding the Government on their behalf.’**
The Alliance did not seem to set any value on the existence of a strong Opposition. Tan Siew Sin himself seemed to be unsure of an Opposition’s function.
The bitterest exchanges were between the Malayan Chinese Association and the Chinese controlled Democratic Action Party. The DAP began to gain popularity at the MCA’s expense. Although it campaigned on the issue of ‘equal rights’ and ‘Malaysia for the Malaysians’ it was in fact working for the Chinese. The DAP is still anathema to UMNO who regard it as the thin edge of the Singapore wedge. ‘The Malaysia-for-Malaysians concept’, said the Tengku,*** was coined by Mr Lee Kuan Yew**** when Singapore was part of Malaysia but this led to the separation of Singapore because of the fear of racial trouble. ‘The concept is aimed at…abolishing Malay rights.’
In the early 1960s Lee Kuan Yew’s political appeal had begun to spread to Malaya and in the 1964 elections he announced his intention of ousting the MCA. In this he was not successful but, after Singapore’s withdrawal from Malaysia, the residue of his political organisation formed the nucleus of the DAP. UMNO still regarded the DAP as an extension of Singapore’s political influence. There is no evidence of any tangible links between the DAP and Singapore (nor of Singapore financing the DAP campaign) but undoubtedly the DAP was in favour of greater co-operation between the two countries.
‘The DAP is anti-Malay,’ said the Tengku. ‘The DAP was formed after Singapore broke away from Malaysia. This party owes its allegiance to a foreign power.’+
‘For sheer hypocrisy it is difficult to beat the DAP,’ said Tan Siew Sin. ‘It is obvious,’ he maintained, echoing the Tengku, ‘that the DAP, which is basically anti-Malay, owes its allegiance to a foreign power.’++
The struggle between the MCA and the DAP for Chinese votes was going to determine how much longer UMNO considered it worth while maintaining a coalition. DAP’s success would indicate that there was no point in continuing with the UMNO/MCA partnership.
The Tengku and his deputy,Tun Razak, both warned that the MCA was the only Chinese party with which UMNO would deal. The Tengku’s admission that the DAP was the chief threat to the Alliance did much to boost the DAP’s confidence.
Tan Siew Sin, worried by the prospect of DAP gains, repeated the Tengku’s warning. He continued to reiterate the claim that the MCA was the only party capable of looking after Chinese interests. ‘The greater the representation we get in the States and in Parliament the better it will be for the Chinese,’ he said.+++
The DAP maintained: ‘Our party consists of all races, including Malays, therefore it cannot be said that we are anti-Malay. It is the Alliance which is race-conscious, since each of its components is made up of one race only.’++++
While the Chinese voice in the Alliance was being challenged by the Chinese-controlled DAP, the Malay component, UMNO, was under some pressure from the Malay nationalist Pan Malayan Islamic Party. The PMIP had a greater appeal in rural areas where the Malay villagers found it hard to identify themselves with the ‘westernised’ city Malays who run the Government. The PMIP, canvassing for additional ‘special rights’ and Malay one-party rule, maintained that UMNO had abandoned the Malays to rich Chinese and betrayed the ‘true religion’. The DAP claimed that the MCA had been unsteadfast and relinquished the Chinese rights to UMNO.
If each partner of the Alliance responded to these assertions it meant that each would have to give considerably more support to its own racial group. This, in turn, would have meant an end to the UMNO/MCA partnership; the drift apart, to extreme ends of the racial spectrum, would have begun.
In an election speech, Tun Razak said: One race government will destroy the country. This is why the Alliance totally rejects the PMIP concept of an all-Malay government just as we reject the DAP concept of a non-Malay government…The opposition parties will only bring chaos to the country.’*****
Evidence of political coercion was not infrequent. Speaking at a rally in Kelantan State, Tun Razak announced: ‘The Central Government will spend $548 million in Kelantan during the next five years if it comes to power in the State. Previously I said we would spend $450 million but I realise, after calculations, that it should be $548 millions.’******
Again, in Penang, Razak said: ‘Penang cannot afford to have a non-Alliance State Government. Beautiful Penang will suffer a lot of hardship the moment it opts out of the national stream…This is politics…We reward support with benevolence. This is no blackmail. This is straight and sincere talk.’ +++++
To an outside observer it seemed that the Alliance had no need to employ such heavy-handed tactics. They were sure of winning. In the unlikely event that the Alliance lost its majority, the opposition parties, with no agreed basic political platform, were incapable of combining their strength. Because of the Malays constant fear of Chinese domination the Alliance leaders allowed their judgement to be affected by the Opposition’s attack.
‘When the Chinese and the Indians joined the Malays in asking for independence they were promised equality,’ one Opposition candidate told a rally in Perak. ‘Where is that equality now?’
The same candidate (an Indian)# continued: ‘Alliance leaders have said that if we don’t like it here we can go back to China or India. We’re not going anywhere. We’re sticking here in Malaysia the country that we’ve helped to build with our sweat and blood…The Malaysian Constitution has been changed to give the Malays special rights for ever. Originally it was agreed that Malay Rights and Privileges would exist for only 15 years. But now the clause in the Constitution has been changed to read that Malay rights shall remain as long as the yang di-Pertuan Agong desires. If I know it, that will be for ever.’
Malay ‘special rights’ – as defined in section 153 of the Constitution- have done little to improve the kampong Malays’ economic position. The significance of ‘special rights’ is mainly symbolic, assuring the Malays that it is their country and that, though the Chinese control industry and commerce, they still have political power, Islam and their national language left to them. Any Chinese threat, real or imagined, to these ‘special rights’ is a threat to Malay survival and they react quickly, in desperation.
At another rally the DAP candidate demanded of his opponent: ‘Does my opponent support the Alliance party of dividing Malaysians into Malays and non-Malays and will he have the courage to denounce publicly this policy which has made his children second-class citizens?’##
One month before Polling Day, Tan Siew Sin – with more political acumen than he has displayed subsequently – said: ‘Any increase for Chinese support will aggravate Malay fears….The danger of this election is that the Chinese will vote for the DAP while the Malays will vote for the PMIP. This is an inflammable situation since it could mean the polarisation of Malaysian politics into two extremes – Malay racialism and Chinese chauvinism…Any marginal success the DAP might achieve in the coming elections will only bring about Sino-Malay tension…Any increase of Chinese support for the DAP would aggravate Malay fears and suspicions because the DAP is openly and unashamedly anti-Malay’.###
For several months the campaign was fought on racial issues and tensions increased. During the last weeks the Labour Party of Malaya (LPM) called on all voters to boycott the election. The extreme left-wing Labour Party is communist-infiltrated. At one time it was the major component of the Socialist Front (which, in 1964, captured 14 per cent of the votes). In April and early May nobody knew what the effect of the boycott would be on the electorate; some observers believed it could influence as many as 20 per cent of the voters. As the results showed, it made little difference; the Labour Party’s boycott call was ignored by most of the Chinese.
*In addition there was the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and other opposition parties which, though significant in some areas, did not command overall numerical support. The communist-infiltrated Labour Party of Malaya (LPM) decided to boycott the election altogether.
** At an election rally in Bungar – reported in the Far Eastern Economic Review; May 8, 1969
***Straits Times: April 18, 1969
****Prime Minister of Singapore
+Straits Times: April 8, 1969
++Straits Times: April 10, 1969
+++ Straits Times: 9 April 1969
++++Straits Times: 17 April, 1969 (DAP candidate in Setapak)
*****Straits Times: 11 April, 1969
******Straits Times: 11 April, 1969
+++++ Straits Times: 17 April, 1969
# Dato Seenivasagam: at a PPP rally in Ipoh. Straits Times: 11 April, 1969
##Straits Times: 9 April, 1969
### Speaking to the Harbour Labourers’ Union, Malacca: Straits Times: 17 April 1969
_____________________________________________________________________
You/Rakyat have to vote out the UMNO/BN bastards and get yourselves a new government and a two-party system to get the decent democratic state you are entitled to. Otherwise, nothing will ever really change for the better in Malaysia and UMNO will continue to treat you, non-UMNOputras, like turds/second-class citizens, deserving only of their bribery with your own monies and their crumbs thrown as scraps under the table for you fight over like canines, and worst of all, deserving of their insulting ‘Tun Razak style benevolence’ of granting you, your INALIENABLE freedoms, rights and liberties which you were born into through your democratic heritage in perpetuity, and which benefits are therefore, yours to enjoy right from the start of your life without having to request anyone’s permission in Malaysia to have them, including Tun Razak’s or Najib Razak’s or any other UMNOputra’s or BN component-entity’s gutless and traitorous individuals.
So if you/Rakyat have any respect for yourselves and for your children then that is exactly what you will do at GE13 i.e. send all racist bastards and fascist supremacists into political oblivion and teach a good lesson to all political candidates, irrespective of race/party, that they will only stand to lose their election deposits if they ever stoke or play with the RACE card again.
“Imagine Power To The People” John Lennon.
rajraman666
April 19, 2013
annabrella,
Superb reading materials.
How are you anyway, hanging with this guy Haris for so long.You are a rare person.
Thank you annabrella for standing together with Haris@candleman.
annabrella
April 20, 2013
rajraman666:
Thank you for reading what John Slimming wrote. He was an English policeman from Hong Kong who also woked as an Aborigine Officer in Malaysia. He understood Malaysia and her peoples and had a deep affection for them, particularly the aborigines, about whom who wrote in other excellent books.
As to Haris and what he does, I know I just couldn’t hold a candle to him.
Fight for Malaysia and vote tactically on 5 May 2013!
“Imagine Power To The Peoplel” John Lennon.
Teck
April 19, 2013
Maybe we should campaign against Azmin Ali this GE. We must weed out this guy. I know folks at his constituency dislike him.
bill
April 19, 2013
Hindraf is going to campaign for BN so having a Malay in Semenyih since PR will not get the Indian vote may not be such a bad idea.Sorry if this sounds racist but Hindraf is race based It used to be a formidable force maybe its split up now but they are flush with funds from BN now to go on the ground
Some people here are saying campaign against Azmin Thats not fair its the loss of one Parlimentary seat for PR. You want the scandal ridden BN nominee to win?Azmin has been loyal to Anwar all this time unlike his other ‘friends’ who left and now take money from Umno to keep attacking him daily on TV3.He s even going against his own sister for the PKR struggle.
Another Anak Bangsa Malaysia
April 19, 2013
Haris,
I am not going to comment much further regarding seat allocations.
I am just going to see how PKR intends to play out this hand over Semenyih.
The people of Semenyih KNOW that Arutchelvan has worked hard in that constituency. It is now on PKR to recognise that dedication from Arul.
Tomorrow is nomination day. I will wait to see how fair PKR intends to be.
abdullah37
April 19, 2013
Dear Azmin, I hope you do read this blog. I am your supporter but please do take heed. Do not allow racial sentiments to cloud your mind. Our march to Putrajaya will remain only a dream if all of us were to base our actions along racial lines. Be rational and please do the right thing. A little sacrifice can sometime does wonders. Never do anything that your enemies can use to tag you as a arrogant or worst still, a racist like those in scUMNO.
May Chee Chook Ying
April 19, 2013
Call it a woman’s intuition, from the very beginning, no good vibes from him. Am always fearful that he will muddy waters around him. Will be very grateful to be proven wrong.
ongohing
April 19, 2013
“Dear Haris, ABU must remain ABU! Why take off your eyes NOW to fight over one seat for one prospective candidate? In calling for the 30% non Malays to bump off AA is no less racist than what AA is now perceived to be solely responsible for doing and that is that AA had wanted a Malay to contest the seat in question. Come on HARIS! So many seats have been settled on the basis of realities of race. Why don’t we rip out the entire ELECTIONS then? Goh Keat Peng”
I smsed the above to Haris Ibrahim of The People’s Parliament, ABU (Anything but Umno) and the person who founded SABM (Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia). He is crisscrossing the country out of his own pocket, blood, sweat and tears to help unseat an unacceptable re-election of Umno/Bn. I know of no one who is doing more than Haris Ibrahim for this cause. I go to sleep each night and wake up each morning with literal shivers that after May 5th we will still have to live under yet another Umno/Bn government. NO THANK YOU. If on May 6th we wake up under a new stewardship of government we will owe this historic moment to the efforts of Haris Ibrahim.
The context of my sms to him is posted on his blog at harismibrahim.wordpress.com. I am not fighting Haris (love the man!) but just reminding a man far far above me in anything I have strived to do for our common cause.
I am certainly not against PSM (Parti Sosialis Malaysia) and their contribution (of many many years far in access of their recent reinstatement). I am certainly not against the very principle of a race-less politics for the country (something I have argued for all my life). I am even not arguing that we set aside key principles in our fight against the re-election of the sitting government and fully understand that we won’t want to replace the present regime with another one of the same hue, form and emphasis. But I am asking for those who want change to accept the realities that alas elections are presently fought, and candidates selected, along race-based lines. I pray and work like the rest of us for a fundamental sea change for this but till we more fully achieve this most vital change, to get past the post we have little choice but to at least take into consideration present-day realities.
Having said this, I tender my humble apology to Haris Ibrahim whom I admire and love for saying in my sms, “In calling for the 30% non Malays to bump off AA …” It should have been “In alluding to …”
ABU!
Bro, if we cannot say to each other what is in our hearts, then this bond built over the years counts for nothing.
No apology called for, bro.
ongohing
April 19, 2013
Thank you, kind sir! WE are on the SAME page. ABU!
the mythbuster
April 19, 2013
Whatever Azmin Ali does, even emulating the Cowgate woman by going to Mecca for absolving his despicable political shenanigans in Sabah to put Semenanjung Malays as the head of PKR there and his behind the scene moves to replace the present Selangor Menteri Besar, he IS NOT A CREDIBLE LEADER FOR ALL MALAYSIANS.
His UMNO dna is so glaring in all his political moves that he has even undermined the leaders of PKR for his vested interest and private agenda.
ABU and all right minded Malaysians should show this scum that playing the RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS cards are not the way to go towards Putrajaya. He IS the stumbling block for a consensus in Pakatan Rakayat. He is not a statesman but a displaced UMNO bully and Malays chauvinist who cannot rid himself of his UMNO roots.
God alone knows what sort of a hold he has on Anwar Ibrahim that he gets away scot-free whereas minor infringement of others are reprimanded and even kicked out of the party.
He may become the president of PKR if Wan Azizah gives up the post but he would be the cause if PKR is broken up into factions because he is not a cohesive leader.
ABU – anything but UMNO. As such we should not tolerate UMNO trojans in Pakatan Rakyat if there is a hung parliament or when UMNO showers millions and a datukship at would be froggies such as Azmin Ali.
Azmin Ali should be told in no uncertain terms that we are all anak bangsa Malaysia. We do not tolerate racists and religious fanatics.
maiosaurus
April 19, 2013
Azmin Ali will be the death of the hope of millions who see a faint light at the end of the 56 vear old tunnel if he carries on in this autocratic manner. Svmptoms of a predictable future dictatorship – no less! Be warned!
bigjoe99
April 19, 2013
No matter how Azmin Ali plays politics, he still have to lived with reality, No way Semenyih is not Arul, At best Azmin can make the point that its not PSM’s and he knows it..
jppcjRahman Hyder
April 19, 2013
bro
i suggest that if these clowns can’t get their act together and insist on 3-cornered fights, then a civil society committee should be formed to decide which candidate the rakyat should support.
ladyRP
April 19, 2013
ladyRP says……………I’m in Gombak and I want to know if this is true?!?!?!
DackenL
April 19, 2013
If Azmin Ali does not have his way, he will definitely follow the footstep of his ‘mentor’, Mohamad Ezam, and become another frog, join UMNO and then be made a Senator as well.
He may also reveal certain ‘secrets’ of the top PKR leaders. All this while, he has been too ‘suspiciously’ quiet or low profile. He can blackmail his way into many things if DSAI has confided too many things in him. Can be the most poisonous PKR frog.
Abusyukri
April 19, 2013
Ex pres Bush (jr) would have said major
league a**holes…
cannot even play (dijaya) balls properly..
About to loose another 2 votes..?
Still counting chickens (eggs) before they
hatch…?
rajraman666
April 19, 2013
Dear Anwar Bin Ibrahim,
I know Azmin your blue eye boy and in your eye he won’t make mistake but as PKR leader don’t you have a balls to remind him power is corrupt and sometimes give and take in politic is win2 situation for political coalition.
rajraman666. Dear Anwar you are no different from Azmin bullying PSM.
Gn Cleo Lex
April 19, 2013
aiya… i hav no problem who seats i the seat let alone the race.. wtf. seriously who is goin to run the country right this time and fair.. i will vote for him/her.
Wave33
April 20, 2013
Most candidates have adopt one seat only, either ADUN or MP.
Azmin wants both, such a greedy fella.
I am for one person, one seat.
Send an independent to wipe him out.
Abu Hafsin Suja'
April 20, 2013
we are indeed against racism, but as it stands now, whether we like it or not, race is still an important criteria of a winnable candidate. What AA did is probably a strategy that is misconstrued as racial. Let’s not live in denial, and i am surprised at how distracted some of us are with this issue when our focus shall remain the overthrowing of bn. Please…..don’t spoil this historic people’s awakening
kaytee
April 20, 2013
Bro Haris, Azmin Ali has been one reason, probably the most significant, why I haven’t supported your ABU.
Cheers
Bumi Semua Manusia
April 20, 2013
If these are true, then PR is going to fail. Simply because he is very influential within PKR & the very thing we intend to destroy is the one we are putting our votes in.
It’s like Frodo in LOTR. He was supposed to destroy the ring but at Mount Doom, he decided to take the ring for himself. I personally wish there’s a Gollum out there to do what he did to Frodo. The victory is ours but we all know, it wasn’t because of Frodo, but coz of the Gollum!
Haish….