Guan Eng: We will be investor-friendly

PENANG: Any proposal by investors or trade associations that would benefit the state will be considered, said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

“We want to assure investors that we are a friend and even though they may not be from Penang, we are willing to offer our assistance,” he said.

Lim said this when speaking to reporters after opening the ninth Intrenasionale Industrial Expo & iBusiness Solutions Expo which incorporated the Print & Pack Expo 2008 at the Penang International Sports Arena (Pisa) here yesterday.

“The state will offer whatever incentives within its means to attract new and renewed investments,” he said.

Lim appealed to trade associations and industry players to submit or re-submit their memorandums and proposals.

“Since the new state government started from ground zero when it moved into a practically empty office, the proposals and suggestions would be solely decided on merit,” he said.

“We operate on the basic principles of integrity, attracting talents which can develop and benefit Penang and good governance.”

Lim said the state would boost its attractiveness as an exhibition and convention centre.

“This will include boosting road and air connectivity to and from Penang, and our land and sea ports will also play a vital role in making the state a logistical hub to complement the industry,” he said.

Lim said he hoped the Federal Government would continue with the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER).

“The state will make sure that the concerns of investors and industry players are taken care of,” he added.

Over 50 new products were on display at the three-day expo with more than 300 brands from over 20 countries.

Would the opposition have won?

Ong Kian Ming | Mar 20, 08 12:34pm

analysis A journalist friend of mine recently asked me this intriguing question – ‘Would the opposition have won the 2008 general election if the parliamentary seats were allocated proportionally?’ This question does not seem as ludicrous one may imagine, even if the Barisan Nasional did win 63% of parliamentary seats. The reason is that parliamentary seats in Malaysia do not have the same number of voters. Political scientists define this practice as malapportionment. Indeed, the discrepancy between the largest and smallest parliamentary seat in Malaysia is huge. The largest seat, Kapar, has 112,000 voters while the smallest, Putrajaya only has 7,000 voters. There are discrepancies between states as well. Selangor has an average of 71,000 voters in its 22 seats while Pahang has an average of 43,000 voters in its 14 seats. Sabah has an average of 31,000 voters in its 26 and Sarawak, an average of 29,000 voters in its 31 seats. I won’t go into the mechanics of how seats are allocated between the states and how lines are drawn within them. Rather I want to project the electoral outcomes of the 2008 general election if the parliamentary seats were allocated to the different states in proportion to the number of voters in each state. A few assumptions To do this, I had to make a few assumptions. Firstly, I assumed that the number of parliamentary seats remains at 222 so as to make comparisons with the actual results easier. Secondly, I lump Putrajaya under Wilayah Persekutuan (Kuala Lumpur) and Labuan under Sabah. Table 1 (left) below shows the comparison between the actual number of parliamentary seats by state and the distribution of seats if they were allocated proportionally. The states which experience the largest fall in the number of seats are, not unexpectedly, Sabah (from 26 to 17) and Sarawak (from 31 to 19). In Selangor, the number of seats would increase dramatically, from 22 to 32 with marginal changes of between 1 and 3 seats in the other states. The number of seats in Peninsular Malaysia would increase from 165 to 187. The next step I took was to assume that the BN would win the same percentage of seats in each of these states. I then estimated the number of seats the BN would win in each state with the proportional distribution of seats (rounded to the nearest whole number). For example, the BN won 23% of seats in Selangor (5 out of 22) which would give it 7 out of 32 seats in Selangor if seats were distributed proportionally. Table 2 (right) below shows the number of seats that the BN would have won in each state compared to the actual number of seats which it won. According to Table 2, the BN would have won 126 seats instead of the 140 that it actually won - a difference of 14 seats. So instead of winning 63% of parliamentary seats, the BN would have won only 57%. Most of this comes from a smaller number of seats won in Sabah and Sarawak, both still BN strongholds. Of course, this estimation can be criticised on a number of grounds. One cannot have seats which are exactly equal in the number of voters because of the need for a rural ‘weightage’, keeping within administrative units and the size and inaccessibility of many areas in Sabah and Sarawak. But I could respond by saying that rural weightage should no longer be an important consideration given the improvement in transportation links and increasing urbanisation, especially in Peninsular Malaysia. In addition, the drawing of constituency lines within the states might also be more favourable for the opposition. Many of the seats with a larger number of voters are either non-Malay majority or mixed seats, areas where the opposition, notably PKR and DAP, did especially well in. Wanted: New EC chairman It is not hard to imagine that the areas where seats will be added will be in these areas which favored the opposition in 2008. An indication of the opposition strength in heavily populated areas is the fact that the average number of voters in seats won by the BN in Peninsular Malaysia was 47,000 compared to 64,000 for the opposition. Still, even with the proportional distribution of seats, the BN would win a majority of parliamentary seats, piggybacking on its strength in Sabah and Sarawak. But this victory would be only leave the BN 15 seats above the 50% mark, not the current 28 seats. This estimation exercise points to the need for the opposition to ensure that the next electoral delimitation exercise, due to start in 2011, should distribute seats as proportionally as possible. Unlike past delimitation exercises, the BN can no longer unilaterally amend the constitution to increase the number of parliamentary seats since it no longer holds a two-thirds majority in parliament and does not control the state assemblies in five states. One thing which the opposition can do in anticipation of this is to pressure the BN to appoint a neutral and independent Election Commission chairman, since the current chairman is due to retire soon. (The BN cannot raise the retirement of the EC chairman by amending the constitution which is what it did just prior to the 2008 general election) ONG KIAN MING is a PhD candidate in political science at Duke University. His areas of interests are electoral and ethnic politics.

Anwar's star rises after Malaysia election

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/efa85f38-f5d3-11dc-8d3d-000077b07658.html

By John Burton in Kuala Lumpur

Published: March 19 2008 16:53 | Last updated: March 19 2008 21:58

Anwar Ibrahim would have been dismissed a few weeks ago as the Al Gore

of Malaysia: a statesman respected abroad but with a fading political
future at home.

His People's Justice party (PKR) had only one seat in the outgoing
219-member parliament and his chances of achieving his ambition of
becoming prime minister were seen as virtually nil.

But the shock results of the recent general elections, which delivered
the biggest setback to the National Front government in its 50-year
history, have significantly improved the odds of Mr Anwar's leading
the south-east Asian nation.

Mr Anwar has stood on the brink of national leadership once before, in
the 1990s, as deputy prime minister in the government he now opposes.
But a power struggle with Mahathir Mohamad, then prime minister, led
to his sacking in 1998 and then imprisonment for corruption, which he
denied, and sodomy – a conviction that was overturned. He was released
in 2004.

The surprise outcome of this month's polls is largely due to Mr
Anwar's efforts, political analysts say. He spent the past year
welding the three disparate opposition parties into an alliance
spanning Malaysia's three main ethnic groups – Malays, Chinese and
Indians – in a country where politics is race-based. His rhetorical
skills during the recent campaign were seen as crucial in persuading
the public to vote for reform after years of apathy.

His PKR, which has strong roots among the urban middle class, emerged
as the biggest opposition party with 31 parliamentary seats, with the
allied ethnic Chinese-based Democratic Action party taking 28 seats
and the conservative Islamic party (PAS) gaining 23 seats in the
expanded 222-member chamber. In addition, the opposition now controls
an unprecedented five of Malaysia's 13 states. Mr Anwar appeared to
read the mood of the public well, taking advantage of dissatisfaction
with government failure to curb inflation, crime and corruption.

But, barred by law for his criminal conviction, he was unable to stand
for parliament until next month. His wife is willing to give up her
seat so he can stand in a by-election, which he is expected to win
easily. "I'm eager to be back in parliament," Mr Anwar told reporters
last week. He refused to name a date for a by-election but the
pressure is on. There is a chance the 14-party National Front could
fail to form a government if some of its allies defected to the
opposition, which is only 30 seats short of a parliamentary majority.

Attention has focused on the group of National Front parties from
Borneo, which hold the balance of power with 42 seats. The
independent-minded parties from Sarawak and Sabah have long had an
uneasy relationship with the Malay-dominated central government since
they comprise ethnic Chinese or Christian-affiliated indigenous
people.

"Anwar knows Borneo politics very well from his time in government. He
was instrumental in forcing them to fall in line in the 1990s when
they threatened to revolt and he now has the opportunity to encourage
them to do so," said an aide to a senior politician in United Malays
National Organisation, the leading government party.

Mr Anwar had spent last week advising on the formation of state
coalition governments among the three opposition parties.

Wide differences exist between the secular Chinese DAP and the Muslim
PAS, with the PKR seen as a vital bridge between the two.

A unifying theme among the opposition has been Mr Anwar's promises to
dismantle the government's long-standing policy of special rights for
ethnic Malays, a sharp reversal of his political stance at Umno. Mr
Anwar says the policy has enriched only a small Malay elite, and wants
to replace it with what he calls the Malaysian economic agenda, a
"competitive ­merit-based [system] that will immediately increase
foreign investment, improve the state tax revenue and promote more
equity and income parity".

But some PKR leaders who have left the party have accused Mr Anwar of
political opportunism.

Chandra Muzaffar, a former PKR deputy president, said it would be "an
unmitigated disaster for Malaysia" if he became prime minister. Mr
Anwar has sued him for libel.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Pas kekal kuasai Kelantan

KOTA BHARU 8 Mac – Pas terus menguasai Kelantan buat penggal keempat berturut-turut setelah ia bersama Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) memenangi 39 daripada 45 kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri, dalam Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-12.

Pas mencatatkan kebangkitan mengejutkan dengan pencapaian jauh lebih baik berbanding pilihan raya umum lalu apabila memperoleh 38 daripada 40 kerusi manakala PKR satu daripada lima kerusi ditandingi.

Bagi kerusi Parlimen pula, Pas menguasai sembilan kerusi, PKR (3) manakala BN hanya 2 kerusi melalui Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah yang berjaya mengekalkan kerusi Gua Musang dan juga Menteri Pengajian Tinggi, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed (Jeli).

BN hanya memenangi enam kerusi DUN iaitu Pengkalan Kubor melalui calonnya, Datuk Norzahidi Omar, Kuala Balah (Abd. Aziz Derashid), Nenggiri (Mat Yusof Abdul Ghani) dan Paloh (Datuk Norzula Mat Diah), Kok Lanas (Datuk Md Alwi Che Ahmad) dan Bukit Bunga (Adhan Kechik).

Sebanyak 608,862 daripada 751,682 pengundi berdaftar keluar mengundi iaitu sebanyak 81 peratus berbanding pilihan raya umum lalu yang mencatatkan 80.7 peratus daripada keseluruhan 662,722 pemilih.

Dalam Pilihan Raya Umum 2004, Pas menguasai 24 kerusi DUN dan hanya lima daripada 14 kerusi Parlimen. BN memenangi 21 kerusi DUN dan sembilan kerusi Parlimen tetapi mengatasi Pas secara keseluruhannya dari segi undi popular.

Beberapa orang pemimpin UMNO dan BN Kelantan termasuk Timbalan Menteri Kewangan, Datuk Dr. Awang Adek Hussin tewas bagi kerusi DUN Perupok dan Parlimen Bachok.

Pengerusi BN Kelantan, Datuk Seri Annuar Musa pula tewas bagi kerusi Parlimen Ketereh dan Setiausaha Parlimen Kementerian Sumber Asli dan Alam Sekitar, Datuk Sazmi Miah (Machang) turut mengalami nasib yang sama.

Selain Menteri Besar, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat yang mengekalkan kerusi Chempaka, Naib Presiden Pas, Datuk Husam Musa memenangi kerusi DUN Salor dan seorang lagi anggota Exco Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah memenangi kerusi Panchor.

Bekas Ketua UMNO Bahagian Pasir Mas, Datuk Ibrahim Ali, calon Bebas yang bertanding atas tiket Pas pula memenangi kerusi Parlimen Pasir Mas dengan menewaskan calon BN, Ahmad Rosdi Mahamad.

Tsunami politik pilihan raya

Oleh Zulkefli Hamzah

MENGEJUTKAN. Mungkin inilah analisis awal yang boleh diterjemahkan berikutan tumbangnya calon-calon berpengaruh Barisan Nasional (BN) termasuk di kawasan yang dianggap selamat.

Juga mengejutkan apabila dua negeri di utara, Pulau Pinang dan Kedah berubah kedudukan dengan jatuh ke tangan pembangkang, selain Kelantan yang kekal di bawah pemerintahan Pas.

Dalam keputusan awal yang belum disahkan, BN juga gagal mempertahankan Selangor manakala Perak kehilangan banyak kerusi.

Apa yang boleh digambarkan daripada keputusan luar dugaan ini? Ada yang menamakan tsunami politik. Ada yang menyebutnya ledakan perubahan.

Di atas kertas, tiada isu besar yang menonjol. Isu politik, ekonomi sosial dan perkauman yang dibangkitkan oleh pembangkang secara relatifnya dapat ‘diurus’ dengan baik oleh pemerintah.

Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-12 ini memang sukar difahami. Penganalisis politik mungkin sahaja perlu berfikir panjang sebelum mampu mengeluarkan komentar bernas.

Tiada ramalan mereka yang menepati atau hampir menepati keputusan pilihan raya kali ini. Siapa sangka Presiden MIC, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu boleh tewas di Parlimen Sungai Siput yang dikuasainya sejak pilihan raya umum 1974.

Siapa menduga Nurul Izzah, anak Penasihat Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim boleh menumbangkan Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil yang sudah sebati dengan Parlimen Lembah Pantai?

Begitu juga, tiada yang berani meramalkan Kedah bakal jatuh ke tangan pembangkang dan Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon boleh tumbang bersama-sama negeri kelahirannya itu.

Bagaimana untuk mentafsirkan yang tersurat mahupun tersirat apabila calon DAP, M. Manoharan, yang masih ditahan di bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA), menang kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri Kota Alam Shah dengan memperoleh 12,699 undi menewaskan calon BN, Ching Su Chen (5,515 undi).

Apa yang boleh dikatakan apabila calon PKR, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim yang tewas pada pilihan raya kecil DUN Ijok pada April tahun lalu, kembali bukan sahaja menawan Ijok tetapi juga Parlimen Bandar Tun Razak.

Ramalan para penganalisis politik seperti terbalik. Mungkin pembangkang juga tidak menyangka begitu besarnya arus perubahan yang berlaku.

Dalam perjalanan 50 tahun demokrasi Malaysia, ini adalah antara rekod terburuk yang pernah dialami oleh BN. Di atas rekod, Malaysia telah diperintah oleh BN (dahulu Perikatan) dengan majoriti dua pertiga tanpa gagal sejak lima dekad lalu.

BN tidak pernah gagal dalam setiap pilihan raya sejak merdeka kecuali pada 1969 dengan majoriti mudah iaitu 51 peratus.

Dalam sejarah, tercatat Perikatan/BN menang 74 daripada 104 kerusi Parlimen atau 71 peratus pada 1959, 85 peratus (1964), 51 peratus (1969), 87 peratus (1974), 84 peratus (1978), 85 peratus (1982), 83 peratus (1986), 70 peratus (1990), 84 peratus (1995), 76 peratus (1999) dan 90 peratus (2004).

Sebut sahaja apa pergolakan yang melanda, BN tetap bertakhta di hati rakyat. Walaupun ada pergolakan politik besar seperti perpecahan dalam UMNO dan pemecatan Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri, BN masih menang besar pada 1990 dan 1999 dengan majoriti dua pertiga.

Krisis kemelesetan ekonomi juga tidak dapat menafikan majoriti dua pertiga BN pada pilihan raya umum 1986 dan 1999.

Inilah realiti politik yang perlu ditempuh oleh BN pada pilihan raya kali ini. Mungkin ini isyarat untuk BN berbuat sesuatu yang drastik bagi menghadapi pilihan raya umum lima tahun lagi.

Rakyat telah memuktamadkan pilihan mereka. Dalam keadaan luar dugaan ini, semua pihak - yang menang dan kalah - harus bersikap tenang. Jangan menang sorak, kampung tergadai.

Inilah demokrasi, sistem yang Malaysia anuti sejak merdeka. Harganya memang mahal dan inilah kehendak rakyat yang semestinya dihormati.