GUEST COLUMNISTS

Umno is up its tricks to ensure that future generations remain firmly in its grasp by keeping them intellectually challenged and incapable of thinking 

The DAP would not have won in many of its 38 seats had it not been for the support that it had from the Indians and the Malays as well. Many of the educated and the open minded Malays from the working class voted for the DAP but did not shout about it to their kampung kin. The figures would not have crossed the winning mark had it not been for the large number of Malaysians who returned home just to vote.

by P Dev Anand Pillai, FMT

I feel sad that this country does not accept me, but I feel sadder for my children who will still have to face the same.  

Kee Thuan Chye 

Malaysian PM turns to old foe's allies for help

John Berthelsen, Asia Sentinel

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has appointed what amounts to a survival cabinet, turning to allies of former foe Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to fend off intra-party challenges in the wake of the May 5 election, in which the opposition actually won the popular vote but was thwarted from taking power by gerrymandered constituencies.

The most insidious racism is just so ingrained it's involuntary. It's about the fact no one responsible for the decision even saw the existence of the problem. 

Waleed Aly, The Age 

Why would Umno want to rid itself of a leader who won an unwinnable election for Barisan Nasional? 

Almost two million Chinese voted for Pakatan – largely for DAP really. They voted for DAP in the hope that Pakatan will form government, and that DAP will have effective control of that government. This is NOT what you or I think but this is what a vast majority of the Malays think. It is irrelevant whether it was Umno that put that thought in their mind or whether they worked it out for themselves.

CT Ali, FMT

For the sake of this country, the writer hopes his entire analysis is rubbish, and that he will be proven absolutely wrong and a pessimistic idiot.

Before moving on let me just clarify that this analysis is not meant to monger fear or accuse the government of anything. It is a hypothesis based on my historical analysis of post-election trends in Malaysia, and as with all hypotheses, is unproven and certainly not set in stone.

By Ong Kar Jin, FMT

Khairy has weathered the storm. Even his political foes and detractors acknowledge that he deserved a ministerial post, citing his loyalty to Umno when he was being sidelined and the number of times he responded in the name of the party in facing off the opposition and NGOs in debates and what not.

Mohsin Abdullah, fz.com 

We cannot ignore the obvious: vote buying is rampant in all our elections because there is no shortage of vote sellers. Anyone who sells his or her vote clearly does not understand or appreciate the democratic institutions that so many Filipinos have fought so hard to attain.

Manila Times 

The answer is that although in the first past the post system the risk of a party having a majority of seats with a minority of popular votes is always there, the way to avoid such absurdities is to ensure that all the constituencies are appro­ximately t­h­­e sa­me size in terms of voter numbers. This is obviously not the case in Malaysia.

Azmi Sharom, The Star

WHEN criticising laws and policies in this country, one of the stock answers that one is faced with is that the majority voted for the government in power, therefore, they are obviously happy with those said laws and policies. The majority rules after all.

A montage of photos of some of the incidents that was perceived to be wrongs committed or permitted by the EC during GE13.

Maria Dass, fz.com