New politics via internet

I was introduced to the social networking website, Facebook prior to the March 8 general election last year by a renowned local professional photographer.

As he demonstrated to me how this website can do wonders in term of hooking up with people from all over the world, I was amazed at how at this age of information technology, we could access not only any information on the internet but also connect us with people, especially our friends or relatives whom we have lost contact and have been abroad for years.

This photographer friend of mine showed me a reply from Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd who thanked him for his congratulatory message sent via Facebook for Rudd’s election as the Prime Minister.

A personal reply from personalities like a Prime Minister of course would send anyone of us into seventh heaven.

Likewise, my friend was so proud that he showed everyone of us the reply.

The point is here. Politicians nowadays can not only rely on mainstream media for publicity purposes as people, be it old or young have started to rely on the internet to know their elected representatives or aspiring politicians better and to find alternative source of news.

If in the past, politicians needed to walk miles and miles for house to house visit, then in this age of digital technology, a click on the mouse is what it takes to connect with the people.

I must acknowledge that the Opposition had utilised this technology to the fullest in the March 8 general election and the result garnered by them is a proof of how effective and efficient the tool is.

We need not look far at West Malaysia but at our very own yard where DAP Bandar Kuching MP, Chong Chieng Jen whose daily campaign ceramahs during the general election were uploaded on the YouTube and one could just sit at home and look at the YouTube to listen to what he has got to say.

And then there is state DAP chairman, Wong Ho Leng, the Bukit Assek state assemblyman whom I consider as one of the most active in the blogosphere in the state for writing his thoughts on many issues affecting the people.

This is indeed a smart move by the Opposition politicians whom have claimed that they are being denied publicity by the mainstream media.

The Malaysian Insider news portal which has turned one year old recently meanwhile has attracted a large number of followers for alternative news source apart from the Malaysiakini.

A news editor who happened to be in my office for a chat recently told me how fast this alternative news media could disseminate its news which is being updated every single minute to the extend that the printed media has lost out.

Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has even created his own Facebook account to connect to the people whom I have noticed have added Dr Mahathir as their political fan, apart from other well known politicians like Taiwanese President, Ma Ying Jeou and US first black President, Barack Obama.

Dr Mahathir’s chedet blog for instance has registered million of hits where his blog has become one of the most popular blogs around.

One thing noticeable is that most of the state Barisan Nasional politicians have really yet to concur this internet hype to reach out to the people.

The urgent thing to do now is for these politicians to find ways of how to utilise tools like Facebook, YouTube and blog to send their messages across to the wide spectrum of society as well as to connect themselves to the people.

Relying on the mainstream media alone is insufficient and furthermore, the mainstream media is very much hand tight with strict regulations and filtration by the various authorities, resulting in the people sourcing for alternative news on the internet.

Nevertheless, as one seasoned assistant minister once said, while we could obtain almost everything and anything on the internet, there must still be a discerning ability on our part and we should not assume that everything reported on the internet is the gospel truth.

Whatever it takes, the only choice left for politicians from both divides if they want to effectively reach out to the people, especially the younger generation which will be crucial in swaying the votes, is through the internet.

Failure to do so may spell trouble for these politicians who will be left behind in this era of technology.

Sex, lies, money and politics

Welcome to Malaysian politics.

That is the most I could reply every time someone lamented to me the state of our country’s politics which has become perhaps a laughing stock to outside world.

While the rest of the world is focusing on economy revival and job security, we have been entertained almost daily to political circus in our home yard, no thanks to some of our politicians who seem ignorant of the plight faced by the people who are already affected by the world economic recession.

Sex, lies, money and politics may best to describe the political development in our country.

Early last year, we were caught by the brouhaha for the revelation of a sex scandal involving the former Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek who is also the MCA deputy president.

His sexual tryst with his alleged lover in a hotel was widely circulated on the You Tube as well as MMSes almost instantly, thus ended Dr Chua’s political career albeit briefly.

But the fighter he is, Dr Chua went against all odds when he beat the other two contenders to assume the MCA Number Two post.

Just when we thought that Dr Chua’s scandal could perhaps be the only sex-driven political massacre and with lovebirds who had just celebrated the Valentine’s Day last weekend, we again were treated to another scandal.

This time, the Bukit Lanjan state assemblywoman and Selangor executive council member, Elizabeth Wong was caught in the nude with her semi-naked photos in compromising position circulated on the internet and widely reported in newspapers.

Even a major portion of the nightly Evening Edition on Astro channel has been focusing on Elizabeth Wong’s indecent assault with other news taking the back seat.

The “political rape” as one of the political scientists called it has resulted in the former national swimmer tendering her resignation despite the fact that she is victimised for whatever reasons only privy to whoever behind this evil act.

While she has been asked to take a long leave by her political master and to reconsider her decision to quit, how far this setback would cause Elizabeth or the Pakatan Rakyat for that matter is yet known.

Lies? Well, I guess everyone of us could still remember the private investigator, Balasubramaniam Perumal who went missing until today after making a statutory declaration last year concerning the Mongolian model, Altantuya murder case which is very much politicised.

And there was this former personal assistant to PKR de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of whom I have forgotten his name for God’s sake, who suddenly disappeared after he claimed he was sodomised by his employer.

And then there you are the Changkat Jering assemblyman, Mohd Osman Jailu who failed to turn up in court for his graft trial and remains elusive together with the other two assemblymen, Behrang’s Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Jelapang’s Hee Yit Foong after their defection which caused the Pakatan Rakyat to lose its grip on the Perak state government.

The Bukit Selambau assemblyman, V. Arumugan who quit his state seat and executive councilor posts and went missing recently has added to the list of how Malaysian voters have been cheated again and again by certain irresponsible politicians.

Well, I guess the only thing we can find solace is that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has called for the civil servants to do more to speed up the implementation of projects under the RM7 billion stimulus package announced by the government in November last year.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is expected to table a mini budget soon and come out with a second stimulus package with estimated amount of RM10 billion to stimulate the economy.

The Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary general, Lim Guan Eng meanwhile has called for the federal government to consider giving unemployment benefits to those retrenched as part of fiscal stimulus with each one of those retrenched given RM800 a month from three to six months.

And just recently, the mission schools and conforming schools in Sabah and Sarawak were given a total of RM21 million funding during a visit by Datuk Seri Najib to the state capital.

While disbursement of funds have always been greeted with cheers from the people, politicians must bear in mind that engagement with money politics would not be tolerated by the people as it is the root of all the evils.

It is heartening at least to see the call by Minister of Environment and Public Health, Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh for municipal councilors to declare their interest but this call must be translated into action and extended to all elected representatives as politicians are supposed to be clean and not involved in any conflict of interest in any business dealings.

Ah ha, Malaysian politics is not so bad after all. Just sit down and enjoy it while we do the assessment for the politicians who will receive their report cards come every election.

What could be the by-elections results?

At this point of time when all of us are bracing for the hard times ahead, as economists predict that the whole world will see further economic catastrophe, we will be witnessing yet another two election battles in Peninsular Malaysia.

The sudden death of PAS Member of Parliament for Bukit Gantang, Roslan Shaharum and the abrupt resignation of state assemblyman for Bukit Selambau, V Arumugan have resulted in the Election Commission having to call for the by-elections within 60 days.

These two by-elections will be closely watched as it will be a referendum of sort to Barisan Nasional (BN) which pulled the carpet under Pakatan Rakyat (PR) when PKR state assemblymen for Behrang, Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Changkat Jering, Mohd Osman Jailu and DAP state assemblywoman for Jelapang, Hee Yit Foong quit their respective parties to be independents, causing PR to lose control of the state government which it governed for a mere 11 months after March 8 general election last year.

With the former Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin failed to get the consent from the Sultan of Perak to dissolve the state assembly in the hope of preventing the seizure by BN, the BN now governs the state with equal numbers of state assemblymen as PR at 28 with the three independents friendly to the coalition.

There are of course many arguments whether the act of hopping of these elected representatives is acceptable or not with some in the BN accusing the PR de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of starting the whole brouhaha when he declared last year that there would be massive defection of at least 31 Members of Parliament from the BN to PR.

Now that the two by-elections are bound to be held, the timing could not have been any better for the PR to prove itself as the people’s choice and that it is the legitimate Perak state government.

The BN will definitely have an uphill task to win both seats in view of the political wind of change currently blowing in the country.

Two losses in the previous by-elections in Permatang Pauh end of last year and Kuala Terengganu recently will be haunting the BN in the coming by-elections which must prove its worth to the people and that the way it won over the Perak state government via defection is not only legally right but also endorsed by the people.

In 2004, V Saravanan of MIC won the Bukit Selambau state seat in Kedah with 7,695 votes majority but lost it to PKR’s V Arumugan who obtained 2,362 votes majority on March 8 last year.

In the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat in Perak, the late Roslan Shaharum beat Umno treasurer, Datuk Seri Azim Mohd Zabidi and an independent, M Murganan with 1,566 votes majority.

A news portal reported that 87.8% of its readers who took part in a survey on the Perak political imbroglio disagreed with the Sultan’s decision in the transfer of power in the silver state with 9.8% stood by the decision while another 2.4% being fence sitters in the survey.

If this survey is to hold any truth to the sentiment on the ground, then my bet will be BN will suffer further casualties in the two by-elections which may hold some bearings to the political future for incoming Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The by-election heat is yet to be felt now but when the D-days are near, but we can expect to see yet another mud-slinging taking place during ceramahs with both divides hurling accuses at one another with of course the Perak incident taking the centre stage.

I myself have at many times condemned and loathed the practice of defection among politicians, not only during the Perak fiasco but also during the September 16 takeover claim by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, as I take it as an act of betrayal by these politicians against the wishes of the people.

As some analysts have said the short gain by BN in Perak may perhaps be a long suffering for the coalition if it does not yet wake up to the political reality and still plays to the old style of politicking which does not appeal anymore now.

Unless PR falls itself up and BN not taking any serious effort to revamp for the better, I guess the people would know deep inside their hearts who to vote for not only in these two by-elections but also the next general election.

But again in politics, a day is a long time and what more to say we have another 60 days to go for the by-elections.

In the meantime, let us enjoy the good fine weather after weeks of rain and cloudy sky.

Don't betray the voters, YBs!

“It’s so hard to believe but it’s all coming back to me now.”

There you are the song, It’s All Coming Back To Me Now by Celine Dion which made it to the billboard in the 1990’s.

The current political fiasco in Perak, a reminiscence of what happened in Sabah in 1994, has made the headlines these few days, no thanks to the three state assemblymen who deserted their parties to be independents.

The three, PKR state assemblymen, Mohd Osman Jailu and Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and DAP’s Hee Yit Foong who played hide and seek eventually showed up at the press conference on Tuesday by incoming Umno President, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who claimed that the BN had the enough numbers to seize power from the mere 10-month old Pakatan Rakyat led state government.

In 1994, the PBS led government managed to secure only a razor thin majority of 25 state seats against the BN’s 23 and with the defection of few PBS state assemblymen to BN, the BN eventually seized power from the PBS.

So the question now is- is it alright for politicians to hop parties as they wish when the voters voted them for who they represented (meaning the parties they represented) during the elections?

While the law on anti-hop is yet there to stop politicians from deserting parties, I guess this million dollar argument, if we were to take public polls, may come to a conclusion that it’s a no-no for majority of us.

While the Federal Constitution guarantees one’s right and freedom of association, being responsible and people’s conscious politicians with high credibility and integrity, such hopping culture should not ever be in the practice for the politicians are where they are for the trust and faith entrusted by the people.

I guess everyone of us could still remember vividly how the PKR de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who tried so hard to engineer defection among the BN lawmakers last year which resulted in a big group of BN lawmakers having resorted to a retreat in Taiwan in the name of study tour.

But the attempt by Datuk Seri Anwar failed despite him declaring that the Pakatan Rakyat would form the government by September 16.

The table is now turned against the Pakatan Rakyat with rumours that there would be more defection to the BN camp.

And now as the Chinese are still celebrating the new lunar year of the Year of the Ox, Malaysians are awaken to find a change of state government in Perak within days, not via ballot boxes but defection of few politicians who were claimed to be offered a whopping millions of ringgit just to cross over.

As the Sultan of Perak holds the key to whether allow the BN to form the state government with a simple majority or to dissolve the state assembly, the voters in Perak may feel betrayed or sick with the conduct of their politicians.

There are some legal aspects involved in this political fiasco but I agree with what a senior lawyer who was quoted as saying in a national daily that the best way to solve the problem was to dissolve the state assembly and let the people decide.

If such defection or “frogging” is the way Malaysian politics is being played, then what is there to guarantee that these very same politicians may not hop again in the future for selfish reasons?

There is an urgent need for the enactment of anti hopping law to prevent this political melodrama from repeating in the future.

But alas, the effort by the former Law Minister, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim who resigned only after few months in office was futile.

Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has a second thought of Umno accepting the PKR state assemblymen- Mohd Osman Jailu and Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi into its fold for the two, he said still have court case pending.

Dr Mahathir had said even if the party were to accept anyone, it must do some checking on the person’s background and not to simply accept any Tom, Dick and Harry.

But I have this advice to politicians. Do not betray the faith and trust given by the people to you because the consequences may be detrimental in time to come for the voters will definitely vote you out.

Remember this line from Celine Dion’s song- “There were empty threats and hollow lies, and whenever you tried to hurt me, I just hurt you even worse, and so much deeper.”