Reasons for the Malaysian 2008 General Election Results

The results of the Malaysian 2008 General Elections took everyone by surprise. Incumbent Barisan lost 4 more states - Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor to the opposition. What has really happened? There are some plausible reasons to this. When our former deputy prime minister, Anwar released the Lingam's video to the press near election time, it was very destructive for the goverment to know that a common lawyer like Mr Lingam could broker the appointment of judges in high court. There was much corruption with the 'Correct, Correct, Correct' lawyer offering free tours, houses, handphones to top judges. This show how corrupt the judiciary is.

Secondly, churches were not allowed to use the word 'Allah' in their printing materials and in their preaching. What the heck! The word 'Allah' was used before Islam came to Malaysia. It shows how narrow minded the government is. And Bibles were confiscated recently by the customs that belong to a Baptist church. Looks like the citizen's freedom is being eroded bit by bit.

People were also fedup especially the non-Malays of the NEP (New Economic Policy) favouring the bumiputras or simply the Malays. All government contracts are given to bumiputra companies only leaving out the other races, the Chinese and the Indians. No wonder Lee Kuan Yew said we were being marginalized just because we are more hardworking, diligent and rich. Most of the common Chinese in Penang have felt the pinch of NEP and they are not as rich as before. People are angry and therefore, don't expect the rakyat to vote for you when you are not fair to all races to begin with. You preach one thing, but your actions speak another.

Since Penang is now in the hands of the opposition, I hope future tenders will be fair to all races and not solely for bumiputras only. Hopefully my company will be able to participate in sports open tenders meant for anyone and any race on a fairer system. I also hope that goverment planned projects to develop Penang like the monorail, Penang's second bridge, Penang Outer Ring Road and the like will not be delayed any further by the government since the rakyat or citizens have chosen the opposition to govern them. Congratulations to Lim Guan Eng and Karpal Singh of DAP, Datin Seri Wan Azizah of PKR and the other victorous candidates.

Tags : Malaysian 2008 General Election, reasons for 2008 Malaysian General Election results, Democratic Action Party, DAP, Barisan National