election fraud? racial tensions?

Phantom voters and massive rigging of the elections could be a possible reason why Malaysian feel that it is foolish to think they can make a difference.. after all PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi did not have to call for elections so soon… he could wait till next year.. but its rumoured he did not want to give Anwar a chance to participate in the elections.

Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s former deputy prime minister, has been barred from serving in a governmental position until April because of his conviction for corruption charges in 1998. He was convicted on possibly politically motivated charges and released in 2004.

Anwar cautioned for possible election fraud by the ruling coalition ‘We have produced evidence of massive rigging, phantom voters in every constituency. All this of course is evidence of fraud. It could be proven that there is massive rigging I don’t think it would bear well for the stability of the country.’

Another concern is the rising tensions between the different races in Malaysia.

Khairy Jamaluddin was quoted in The Star : “The (coming) general elections is not about politics but the future of the Malays.”

Did i read wrongly… or is he suggesting that the other races living in Malaysia do not matter as much as the future of the Malays?

It probably would not be a good idea to have someone who is seemingly insensitive towards the needs of the other races, who by the way are contributing to the economy of the country but not given credit for, on the governmental board..right?

The way I see it, the Malaysian elections have many obstacles to overcome.. can they convince the public that the voting is honest and fair.. and how are they going to pacify the people particularly the unhappy non-Malays so that we do not encounter a repeat of Operation Lalang?

Malaysia Government threatened severe punishment to bloggers

The Malaysiakini website receives about 100,000 daily hits and has struggled to cope with the volume since an unprecedented series of public protests against the government broke out in recent months. You could view all the series of actions at www.malaysiakini.tv.

According to the co-founder of Malaysiakini, during the election period, there will be increasing by tenfold and they have prepared for that kind of explosion in bandwidth.

Malaysia’s Islamic opposition party PAS runs its own online journal HarakahDaily.net which features six different online television channels and original reporting on the election.

One of the alternative pioneers is Malaysiakini.com, an online news journal which since it began operating in 1999 has been raided by police and denied media passes for its reporters to cover government events. Co-founder Steven Gan said the use of the Internet as a campaign tool was hampered by penetration rates which remain low in rural areas where the government enjoys strong support. “But in urban areas, it is significant. They now have this alternative access to news and other views,” he said.

Anwar last year used the site to release a video clip which allegedly showed a high-profile lawyer brokering top judicial appointments — a scandal which triggered a full royal commission of inquiry. Well-known blogger Jeff Ooi, who is standing as a DAP candidate in the elections, said news and views on blogs appealed to a cross-section of people and was not limited to urban youth alone.

More and more campaign videos will be transmitted through YouTube and MalaysiaKini because it is unlikely for television stations to broadcast them, of course,” said Ooi, who is facing a defamation suit by the government-linked New Straits Times Press.  

The monopoly on truth has been cracked by bloggers and others. A lot more people have become more discerning especially after recent demonstrations revealed the stark contrast between the mainstream media’s coverage and the bloggers.

 Malaysian bloggers have been heavily criticised by the government which accuses them of spreading lies, and threatened severe punishment and tighter controls on Internet use