Malaysia Votes

By Jacqueline Ann Surin jacquelinesurin@malaysiavotes.com KUALA LUMPUR: As early as an hour before nomination began at 9am on Feb 24, the streets in front of Bangsar Village were already filling up with Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters. A corner lot opposite the shopping complex, which was once a popular mamak shop, had been turned into the…

Updated, with correction on 25 February, 10.45am. Candidates and their supporters descended on 222 nomination centres throughout the nation, some since 7am, today (Feb 24) to file their nomination papers for the 2008 General Election. Jacqueline Ann Surin reports from the ground in Lembah Pantai and Danny Lim in Rembau.

By Wong Chin Huat A Barisan Nasional (BN) message you can find everywhere in rallies, newspapers, radio, television and websites is that if you don’t vote for the BN, you will have no representative in the government to be an advocate for your interest – be it local development or cultural rights. Understandably alarmed by…

It’s the eve of nomination day (Feb 23). Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin, 32, and his campaign team have descended on Rembau, Negeri Sembilan, to prepare for nomination and to press the flesh. The Barisan Nasional Youth deputy chairman and Rembau Umno Youth chief will be contesting for the parliamentary seat here. Danny Lim…

  The race is on and candidates are going all out to woo voters. There’s no telling to what extent they will go, but there are some things they are not permitted to do. MalaysiaVotes.com compiles a list of some of the offences under the Election Offences Act, which does not only apply to the…

By Farish A. Noor AS far as complex plural societies go, Malaysia has to be one of the most complex and plural societies in the world at the moment. There are few countries with a racial, ethnic, linguistic and religious mix like Malaysia’s and I have to confess that I am more than annoyed when…

By Danny Lim dannylim@malaysiavotes.com THREE days before polling day during the Ijok by-election in April 2007, an MCA state assemblyman, speaking on condition of anonymity, was worried about the Chinese vote. “Those who stay here, no problem (in voting for the Barisan Nasional),” he said. “But their children… they go out (of Ijok), they hear…

By Lim Hong Hai SOME states might have their own peculiar issues, but on a national scale, the issues that are likely to dominate this general election fall under three broad categories: race relations, governance and economic wellbeing. These categories are not watertight compartments and a given policy issue can affect all of them, but…

Since 1955, polling day has been held every day in the week but for Friday. The most popular days that have been fixed by the Election Commission for voting to take place has predictably been Saturday and Sunday. In the last 12 elections, polling has been held on Saturday thrice (1964, 1969, 1974), Sunday three…

Want to be a wakil rakyat? Other than getting the votes, you would need sufficient funds to make it through the whole election process.   For starters, candidates have to deposit RM10,000 for a parliamentary seat and RM5,000 for a state seat, to the Returning Officer before or during nomination day. A candidate loses the…

By Cindy Tham cindytham@malaysiavotes.com KUALA LUMPUR: In the early days of our independence, ethnic rights was the focal point of many an election campaign. That still resonates today where race-based political parties rule the country and dominate the political culture. During this 2008 general election, another focal point, it would seem, is emerging. Voters, political…

By Marie Tan Kiak Li Making it into the “Top Ten” of almost any list is usually more than enough cause for celebration. However, this wasn’t quite the case at the Malaysian High Commission last Friday. “En. Airul,” asked this Little Miss Curious, “How many students have come by to register as postal voters?” Consular…

A reader wrote to us: “If a Malaysian registers to vote today, can he/she participate in the upcoming elections? I have looked at the election commission’s website and searched Google but have not got an answer yet. What I do know is that we can register to vote at any time/any day at the post…

By Jacqueline Ann Surin jacquelinesurin@malaysiavotes.com IN the last general election, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi sent a letter that was personally addressed to me. The March 13 letter was mailed to a family home address in Penang. My family’s excitement was palpable all the way in Petaling Jaya where I was at work. My parents…

Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is, for all intents and purposes, participating actively in the national political process. However, the former deputy prime minister still has to sit out any general election, by-election or even his own party’s election, till after April 2008.

Parliament was dissolved on Feb 13 in 2008. Nomination of candidates will be held on Feb 24 and polling on March 8. What’s significant about these dates from a number’s point of view? Firstly, at 25 days, the 2008 election will have the longest election period – beginning from the dissolution of Parliament right up…

By Wong Chin Huat [Updated at 11:15pm, 20 Feb 2008 with correction] You think that enough is enough. After all the leakages, all the tapes, all the royal commissions, all the demonstrations, all the arrests, something must change. You feel that every patriotic person must vote for the opposition. You tell yourself that this is…

By Farish A. Noor The historian’s lot is a sad one in Malaysia. I say this as a historian who has been forced to witness the relentless murder of our history, enacted time and again, by those whose discomfort with the past informs their definition of comfort in the present. Our national symbols have been…

As Malaysia heads to the polls, what are the main issues that voters are grappling with? What issues keep cropping up, election after election, and where should we as a plural society go from here? In a Q&A with Cindy Tham, Tricia Yeoh, director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies, provides some insights. The…

By Cindy Tham cindytham@malaysiavotes.com KUALA LUMPUR: When Malaysia last went to the polls in March 2004, many voters were attracted by the “Pak Lah Factor”. Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi , who had taken the helm as prime minister only five months before that, was described as religious and dubbed Mr. Clean. He promised to…