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I am sad for the folks in Ijok. I am sad that they have not chosen wisely despite the things they have seen. So disappointing.....

i feel so sad that this politics gone so dirty what has happened to our lovely country! is winning at all cost so important? more important than our citizens life, needs and wants? this is no longer the Malaysia I know off…. no wonder so many packed their bags and left cause no eye see already!

Well..what can I say Jeff? Some of the local folks never seemed to learn from past history. Nevertheless, it is heartening to see (based on the said analysis) the subtle shift in votes amongst the registered voters in 2 of the Chinese majority based districts.

At the very least, such small waves of change indicated initial signals to the present government for the urgent need of more transperancy in local governance, and hopefully, to the rest of the nation in bringing about a true Malaysian entity.

If it means anything, in my opinion it means that people vote for whoever that could show them the money. Who can blame them? The millions offered by the government are very useful for them.

Money politics? People either do not care or just don't think they can do anything about it. The opposition really need to come up with something great if they really want to succeed in the next general election.

winning is indeed everything. look at how the reported BN hooligans got deployed to intimidate the oppositions and the voters? i can't wait for the broadband era in malaysia, if we ever come to that. bcos when everyone has internet connection, people will start to see the other side of the politicians and even get reminded of what the politicians have done in the past. perhaps the nationwide internet era will come in the next 50 years, when the whole govt is rotten to the core and the country is beyond repair. the future is bleak. my fellow malaysians, if u want to safe your future generations, pls look for greener pastures and start making small steps (otherwise u may not get there) for the big journey. i am a normal layman from one of the minority ethnics in malaysia. since the day we were born, we are left to fend for ourselves as the govt will not help us (unless we r well connected). so what is the difference now? we will continue to strive for survival - elsewhere...

Good Analysis, Jeff.

Anyway as someone said a lost is a lost. I strongly urge PKR forget about the dispute, you know very well it is just waste of time and money.Why not recoup yourself and prepare for the WAR to come.

As for the BN, if all the allegations of phantom votes, money politics are true, then they should have a bigger headache. Deep in themselves that they know they won because of uneven playing fields. Crack your head now, how are you going to raise enough fund for the next GE. Can I say the amount of money poured into the IJOK by election will well be above RM50 million. Now, KJ start cracking your head how to allocate RM50 to each seat come next GE, else you will get into deep shit.

OK. Good luck to IJOKian, you shall have SAMY around with you for the next 3 months, you can ask what you want. Just don't be shocked when you see toyol walking down your town frequently, you asked for it.

Another angle why Malay voters swing back to BN was the conspiracy theory between Anwar and KJ. Anwar need to be back to UMNO for his political future. However the obstacle is Najib. Najib need to be evaporated for Anwar to make way for him to comeback to UMNO. So Ijok was the field for Anwar to kick Najib out. This is evidence by the persistence of the Alantuya and the Sukhoi jet deals on Najib.

Anwar is not interested to raise those valid issues that Tun M raises against the Government and PM Badawi but choose to attack Najib personally. What kind of opposition is this, it's more for Anwar self interest only! And Anwar has been strategic enough so far, that he is not PKR member, merely advisor only:)

Remember few days ago, Tun M ask Ijok voters to vote intelligently!

Well, it is almost impossible to change those kampung 3rd world mindset.

moo_t: I don't think it's fair to demean the Ijokians like that. Consider the fact that their district is one of the poorest in Malaysia, and when you don't have much to begin with, it doesn't take a lot to make you happy.

I would imagine that bread and butter issues would have a higher priority than justice, fairness, and democratic ideals, and when someone hands you the bread and butter, tars your forsaken roads, gives you cash in hand, promises you the world and paints the opposition candidate as a money-grabbing big shot who knows nothing of the plight of the poor, and promises you the world, the Ijok voter may find it hard to find his conscience.

The Ijokian maybe the winner for NOW and they deserve all the development that has been channeled over the last few weeks.

However, the most important question moving forward for the Ijokian to ponder on is - will the flow of development continues or it is the end of the "show" and back to reality now - knowing well that they have made their choise when the windows of opportunities is being presented to them. The window has now closed and the decision has been made.

However, remember, that the future development of the area is dependable on you and how you will like to shape it.

Good luck.

Ijok result. Does it mean a thing?

YEs it sure meant a heck alot.

It shows that by using force and instilling fear and by cheating, one can win and it does work. But the best of all, what can YOU DO ABOUT IT?

All will be back to normal tomorrow and forgotten. Till the next election.

WOW, RM100 Million for the people of IJOK..... now that's a good reason to wish your MP dead.

The result. What does it mean?
There are irregularities, evidence of fraud, intimidation, bribery and cheating by Barisan Nasional and the high voter turnout was "extremely suspect”. Keadilan has now rejected the poll results and calling the bitterly fought by-election an insult to democracy. "This is not a defeat for our party. This is an insult to our democratic system," Keadilan said in a statement.

Another aspect not highlighted is the dumb EC Secretary stating that it is an offense not to return the ballot papers and on the next breath he said: “The EC is unable to do anything. The booth to mark the ballot paper is a private place. “If the voter keeps the ballot paper as a souvenir, there is nothing we can do”. So in the Ijok by-election, we have the biggest number of unreturned ballot papers - 143 people did NOT deposit back the papers in the ballot boxes. This is indeed alarming. If blank ballot papers can be smuggled out, unnoticed, the results can be manipulated. Is 143 a tip of the ice-berg? Are these kept as "alteration votes" just in case there was a close tie and a recount is needed? How many of these blanks were bought over and at what price? PKR should make some noise on this matter and charge the EC for such a negligence (in not ensuring after the ballots paper are marked, are properly INSERTED in the boxes provided) and have the Ijok by-election declared “null & void” and have another round of “Ijok” and another RM100 million from BN. More details at:
http://powerpresent.blogspot.com/2007/04/more-pics-ijok-video-khairy-jamaluddin.html
on the SIL nearly being whacked and police starting probes on the 20 reports (including the attack on Paul hopefully) and the 30 Opposition Uni students to face action

If you've been poor and out for a long time and someone comes along and promises plenty, it is natural to accept it without question.

Yet the cost of not asking questions is high.

Why didn't the government help the folks of Ijok and other such places long before the election? Did the government know and choose to ignore their plight until it served them to make changes for the entry ticket of a seat?

If this becomes the modus operandi of Barisan Nasional - holding voters to ransom by bribing them with funds in order to win seats - will the nation not suffer in the long run when winning seats lead to mis-governance and lackeyism that harm the very welfare of folks like those from Ijok?

If it continues more insidiously, won't the cost of everything - from governance to doing business to maintaining bad policies - affect national competitiveness making it less possible in the future to dispense funds when they dry up?

The BN knows the grassroots can't ask these questions; that's why the BN will continue to use financial muscle to shoe-in wins in the next GE. The grassroots don't ask where the money comes from. They cannot connect how a few million to them, seen as large to them in their plight of poverty, is paltry compared to the five hundred and thirty eight million to provide "support and coordination services" for 127 submariners for six years, at fifty euros a day, plus lodging and travelling allowances, inclusive of 'costs to coordinate tender document submission'.

An insult not just on the intelligence of the people of Malaysia, but also to nottingham university.

Opposition members should take this event to review their strategy. BN will repeat the use of peoples' money to seduce their better judgement.

And those mat rempits insult malay culture. Or what was remembered in those halycon days when common sense and integrity prevailed.

Here's another angle of opinion, "Common people are also guilty of accepting the 'Bribery' syndrome." which is prevailing in this land. So the lamentation to the other party should ceased as we are the same. Money is the root of all evil if remained in the mind.

What Ijok shows is that PKR is an UMNO splinter group. As such, the strategy is almost the same and the violence is an extension of PKR's heritage from UMNO.

The 2 are the same..and the one thing that differentiates them is Anwar Ibrahim.

Why Anwar choose to attack Najib personally is questionable. Anwar should stick to the basic needs of Ijokians not to drag the court case, his personal battle to the simplistic minds and needs of Ijok.

PKR should leave the personal bettlefield at home...

Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are...

Why judge the Ijokians morally? If they have voted differently, will any of the so-po folks go back to help them with hard cash instead of giving 'words of comfort and gratitude', or will they just become the 'forgottens'? Except for so-po folks, I noticed that majorities don't even bother about the outcomes. Jeff's caption 'Does its mean a thing?' is right...unless BN replicates the formula used to win by-elections, they are still 'unsure' on the voting trend of the populace in the coming General Election. What we learned is 'Big Money Works', but do they have enough cash to win everybody during the GE? The poorer politicians in BN fold may even be fretting now. BN sets a tough precedence on 'how to win'; even for themselves to follow.

anwar started the vote against keadilan by chararter assasination - against najib.
He should have stayed clear of these childish pranks and instead focus on the parties core values and intended policies. he should have said things like
a) reduction in car import tax
b) reduction or abolishment of tolls
c) review IPP's
d) Abolishment of corporate tax(too bad no rich folks in ijok)
e) All malaysian will be taken care of by the government, if they are terminally ill. (neglected by present government)
etc etc ....
Instead he went for the jugular vein and rant on and on about Monggolians. We do not care if najib is involved or not. the court and investigating officer will deal with those things apart from God. We want to know your policies and without knowing what policies the oppostion have, we don not really know what kind of people we are voting into office.
Indeed all oppostion parties do not have these policies in writing. They rant on and on about corruption. We need creative opposition parties, not some kind of stale rhetorics.

I spent 2 whole days campaigning in Ijok the past week, and the heartening thing was that the mood on the ground was indicating support for PKR. Today as we get more feedback from Ijok, the people of Ijok are stunned that BN won,,,or at least those that have communicated with us[PKR's votes have gone up in almost every voting district except 2]. It is sad.

It is even more sad when BN started to party at 3pm in the afternoon even before the voting had closed for the day!! What does that tell you ? How were they so bloody sure they would win if everyone said this election was too close to call.

At this point in time, i don't have enough proof, but i'm willing to take a wager that if not for the "Hantus" and "phantoms"... PKR might have won Ijok, or at the very least lost it by a tiny majority!!

BN can do this in a by-election, where they can focus all their resources on one seat. Come GE, can they do it? The fight in the GE will be more even but still BN will have an upper hand but nothing like a by-election.

The mood of the country is the Chinese and some Indians are very frustrated cos they are made like 3rd class citizen and urban Malays are sick of all the corruption etc.Sabah and Sarawakians are unhappy as well. All these will show up in the next GE especially in urban areas. Pak Lah not able to deliver on his 2004 manifesto and bungling by his XXXL cabinet and all the cost increase will come to haunt them.

sydput,

curruption is the mother of all evil, all the list you give is chained process from corrupt gov.

a) reduction in car import tax - this just to protect corrupt proton deals

b) reduction or abolishment of tolls - no way umno will give away their golden bowl, do you know all the concession company is umno proxy?

c) review IPP's - same as above

d) Abolishment of corporate tax(too bad no rich folks in ijok) - why on earth you want to do this? after all the resources been robbed by cronies, now you want them to pay less taxes.

e) All malaysian will be taken care of by the government, if they are terminally ill. (neglected by present government) - how you want to do this if one source like high corporate tax being reduced? btw, do you know that in kelantan all senior citizen eligible of takaful scheme regardless your race/party? of course you dont know since you hate pas gov