Kerdau By-Election :- A possible coming out event for the 'new' PRM?

Will PRM consider contesting in Kerdau? Maybe, it should because Temerloh is and was the birthplace of the Malay left, and clearly PAS who contested in the last elections seems not to have the support of the people. Maybe, PRM should start campaigning and run in Kerdau - it could also be a coming-out moment for Parti Rakyat Malaysia.

A by-election also do get the attention of the Malaysian public ...and that is more reason why PRM should really consider fast the possibly of running.

TEMERLOH: Kerdau assemblyman Datuk Zaharuddin Abu Kassim died of a heart attack at his home near here, paving the way for the country’s 16th by-election.

Zaharuddin, 63, had slipped in his bathroom at about 6.45pm yesterday after complaining of being unwell.

He was rushed to the Sultan Ahmad Shah Hospital, but doctors failed to resuscitate him.

The first-term assemblyman was pronounced dead at about 7.15pm at the intensive care unit.

OCPD Asst Comm Mohd Nor Mansor confirmed that Zaharuddin had collapsed in the bathroom of his Kampung Kerdau home.

Kuala Krau MP Datuk Ismail Said said the assemblyman, who was supposed to attend a Chinese New Year event, had felt unwell.

Sultan Ahmad Shah, who was attending a 1Malaysia Chinese New Year gathering in Raub, left the event early to visit Zaharuddin’s family and offer his condolences.

Mentakab assemblyman Datuk Chuah Boon Seong, who was also at the gathering, said: “It is truly sad for all of us in Pahang in the midst of celebrating Chinese New Year.”

In May last year, Zaharuddin was warded in critical condition at the National Heart Institute following complications after an operation to treat intestinal ulcer.

He recovered after two months.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is expected to attend the burial ceremony, which will be held after afternoon prayers at the Kampung Paya Taram Muslim cemetery.

Zaharuddin won the Kerdau seat in a straight fight against PAS’ Hassanuddin Salim in the 2008 general election, gaining a 1,615-vote majority. - Star, 13/2/2011, Kerdau rep dies, 16th by-election on the cards

 Kerdau assemblyperson Zaharuddin Abu Kassim, 63, from Umno died at Temerloh's Hospital Sultan Ahmad Shah at 7.15pm today.

The Pahang state representative, who had been in and out of hospital over the past one year, had earlier fell in his bathroom at his home in Temerloh.

Zaharuddin had previously been admitted to the hospital twice due to kidney
complication as well as a heart ailment and unstable blood pressure in May and
November last year.

"Datuk Zaharuddin was confirmed as having suffered a heart attack," Temerloh OCPD, ACP Mohd Noor Mansor told Bernama.

His passing sets the stage for the 16th by-election - and the first in Pahang - since the 2008 general elections.

Under the election laws, the Election Commission will have to call a by-election within 60 days.

At present, rival political parties are preparing for the 15th by-election in Merlimau, Malacca on March 6, which has been called due to death of state assemblyperson Mohamad Hidhir Abu Hassan.

Of the 14 by-elections so far, Pakatan Rakyat has won eight, while BN six.

Given that both Merlimau and Kerdau are BN strongholds, the ruling coalition is expected to even the score ahead of the upcoming general elections. 

12 elected reps died since 2008

Since the 2008 general elections, 12 elected representatives had died from various illnesses, including heart problems, cancer, stroke and lung infection.

Of the remaining four, three by-elections were held after incumbent representative quit their seats in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary and Penanti and Bukit Selambau state seats.

One other by-election was held in Batu Sapi, Sabah after its MP Edmund Chong died in a road accident.

The number of by-elections in the past three years is the highest in the country's electoral history.

Kerdau is an overwhelmingly Malay-majority seat with the community comprising 89 percent of the 8,451 voters, while 5.6 percent are Chinese and 3.6 percent Indians.

In the 2008 general elections, Zaharuddin beat PAS candidate hassanudin Salim with a majority of 1,615 votes.

In 2004, Umno's Redzwan Harun won the seat with a much higher majority of 2,565.

He suddenly lost conciousness 

Zaharuddin had also been treated at the National Heart Institute for two months for kidney complication and heart ailment after undergoing surgery for intestinal ulcer at the Hospital Sultan Ahmad Shah Temerloh in May last year.

Meanwhile, Kuala Krau member of parliament Ismail Mohamed Said said Zaharuddin was taken to hospital and admitted to the intensive care unit, but was confirmed dead while receiving treatment.

"According to his aide, Zaharuddin had earlier complained of stomach ache and his aide had taken him to the bathroom, where he suddenly fell and lost consciousness," he said when met at the hospital.

Ismail said Zaharuddin was then preparing to attend a Chinese New Year gathering in Temerloh.

He said Zaharuddin would be laid to rest at the Kampung Paya Taram Muslim Cemetery, Kerdau after the Zohor prayer tomorrow. - Malaysiakini, 12/2/2011, Kerdau state rep dies, 16th by-election beckons

Human Rights Party, PRM should join others in the struggle

Human Rights Party, PRM should join others in the struggle

Saturday, 26 June 2010 00:00

In the absence of a proportional representation system, the best strategy for any small party is to work together with other parties under a collective desire to get rid of injustices - and in the process touch the hearts of the long-suffering poor, says Choo Sing Chye.

As the general election looms closer, I would by most humble means try to provide some comments on the Human Rights Party’s (HRP) and Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s (PRM) strategies in the coming elections.

Your party's 15/38 strategy "to create, win in and create politically empowered 15 parliamentary and 38 state Indian majority seats" and Koh Swe Yong, secretary-general of PRM's plan (The Star, 7 June 2010) to contest as many seats as possible in the coming elections will test or better still crack the iron-clad feudal first-past-the-post electoral system to ‘empower’ the minorities – this had never happened before in history, either in Malaysia or in Great Britain.

One of the main factors that makes British politics lag behind other European countries is the first-past-the post electoral system.

Many political scientists had described this first-past-the-post electoral system as faulty. Is this the reason why: in the 1983 British General Election, the Conservatives won only 40 per cent of the votes but obtained 60 per cent of the Commons seats. [1]

The first-past-the-post electoral system is the most undemocratic electoral system ever devised and it is ludicrous that it is still in existence today. It has never given the minority a voice like yours a chance to flourish in our political system. It should have disappeared long ago along with the ending of the feudal system in Great Britain.

Any good electoral system should encompass the principle of ‘one person, one vote, one value', but unfortunately it is not to be in the case of first-past-the-post system. Sadly we are stuck with this deformed electoral system, which we inherited since Merdeka from the British.

In Great Britain, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) - or as most Malaysians might call ‘the third force’ - has been consistently unrepresented, "gaining about 30 per cent of the votes in some elections but no more than just over 1 per cent of the seats (in the region of 20 to 30 seats") [2]

The 1992 British general election saw the LDP securing more than 20 per cent of the votes, winning only a measly 20 seats. Ironically, the Labour Party, which secured only 34.4 per cent of the votes, won 271 seats in the House of Commons. [3]

If the principle of one person, one vote, one value were to be applied to this election, LDP should have got around 130 seats instead of 20. It thus lost out on a whooping 110 seats in the 1992 general election alone. In turn, the Labour Party should have got around 224 seats and not 271.

Apparently it took less than 40,000 votes for one Conservative MP to be voted in, slightly more than 40,000 for a Labour MP but for the Liberal/Alliance (only in 1983) it needed more the 338,000 votes (seven times as many votes) just to get an MP into the House of Commons. [4]

In Pennsylvania, USA, in 1924 the Republican Party won about one million votes and took 36 seats in the state election, while the Democrat Party won over half a million votes and took not even a single seat. [5]

In the case of Malaysia, where the first-past-the-post system is coupled with the lopsided media, the biased Election Commission has kept Barisan Nasional in power for the last 50 over years.

In our country, as it is known that there is not a single Indian majority seat. Not because it has none. It is the product of Barisan Nasional’s gerrymandering.

Here is one example, the Buntong State seat (Perak) has a voters’ population of 21,682 (Malays 6.1 per cent, Chinese 47 per cent, Indians 46.2 per cent). Compare this with the Pengkalan Hulu seat won by Former Menteri Besar, Tajol Rosli which has only 11,717 voters (Malay 72.6 per cent, Chinese 12.1 per cent Indians 9.3 %). In other words, the vote value of Pengkalan Hulu is twice that of Buntong’s.

If the concept of one value is applied, Buntong should be split into two constituencies – one with a Chinese majority and the other with an Indian majority. In the Indian majority seat, there would be at least 50 over per cent of Indian voters.

With the Barisan Nasional’s gerrymandering and the unfair first-past-the-post system what chance have we got? Our voices will always remain unheard. In contrast, this unfairness benefits the super rich Malays, Chinese and Indians.

To replace the first-past-the-post system with a Proportional Voting system is near impossible. Although this system sees a fairer distribution of votes and the votes cast reflect closely with the seats won, nobody in Barisan Nasional wants it for it will spell the end to its monopoly on political power.

The only way out for any party is to evolve into a coercive group and to move forward under one collective desire to get rid of injustices and in the process, similar to Mahatma Gandhi’s direct democracy, touch the hearts of the long-suffering poor Malays, Chinese, Indians and the East Malaysians with compassion, sincerity, openness and fairness, without planting the seeds of hatred along the way.-