Malaysians Say The Darndest Things!

11th General Elections Malaysia Results - At a glance

October 29, 2007

My girlfriend asked me, what’s the point of the upcoming rally on 10th November 2007?
I told her about the hanky panky going on in my constituency, Ipoh Timur. I told her and explained about how a sudden influx of 8000 voters seems fishy and is worth a bit of investigation.
I told her that this march will be about people demanding a more transparent process of elections, that elections be free-er and fairer. To demand for our voices to be heard.
I also showed her a summary of the results for the last general elections in Malaysia for the Dewan Rakyat. Some people say numbers speak louder than words, so to those people who believe that to be true, please click to view the table in Wikipedia.

Did you see anything odd or wrong with the results? Did you see what I saw?

Did you see that only with 64% of the total votes in Malaysia, the current government has secured 91% of seats?
And they call this a landslide victory, when 36% of the voters did not vote for them? 36% is a small number, peanuts, you say? How bout if your company docks your salary by 36% then? 36% of voters in Malaysia are only represented by 9% of members of the parliament. Are you not outraged?
But how did this happen? How can 64% of total votes win you 91% of seats? I believe that this is caused, although not certainly, by the unfair delimitation of seats, whereby rural areas with maybe 5000 voters are accorded one seat in Parliament, while an urban area with maybe 50000 voters are also accorded one seat in Parliament.
We really need better representation of seats in the Parliament that reflect the number of total votes more closely.
Actually, landslide is not too inaccurate a word, going by the explanation in Wikipedia:

Landslides can occur when one candidate or party is perceived as far superior to its opponents, through unfair elections, or as a result of particular voting systems which may produce distorted or disproportionate results.

Did you see that the proportion of seats relative to the number of votes seem to be biased towards one political party/group only?
UMNO - 35.9% of votes, 49.8% of seats (+14%)
MCA - 15.5% of votes, 14.2% of seats (-1%)
MIC - 3.2% of votes, 4.1% of seats (+1%)
Gerakan - 3.7% of votes, 4.6% of seats (+1%)

Did you see that the proportion of seats relative to the number of votes seem to be biased against the opposition?
DAP - 9.9% of votes, 5.5% of seats (-4%)
PAS - 15.2% of votes, 3.2% of seats (-12%)
Keadilan - 8.9% of votes, 0.5% of seats (-8%)

Numbers speak louder than words. These numbers tell me that there is something wrong with the electoral process in this country. Something that needs improvement. Unfortunately, I cannot propose a solution. Those out there who have any ideas should share them if they have any.

All I know I can do is to show up during the rally and make my voice heard. If you feel that there is something wrong with the electoral process in this country as well, join me at the rally this Saturday at 3pm in Dataran Merdeka.

Pic taken from The People’s Parliament

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