Catchy title? Well, that is the tagline of Billi Lim Peng Soon who is the author of the book Dare to Fail. After 2 failures in the 1999 and 2004 General Elections where he contested the Bukit Bintang parliamentary seat and lost his deposit after wining less than 200 votes, he is trying his luck again in the 2008 General Election, this time at the Kelana Jaya parliamentary set against BN’s Lee Hwa Beng and PKR’s Gwo-Burne Loh who shot to fame for being the man who recorded the controversial Lingam video.

Azreen Madzlan of Malaysiakini has the story on Billi Lim.

Vote Billi Lim for inter-marriages

Self-proclaimed ‘failure guru’ Billi Lim is on a matrimonial mission to promote unity in the country. And if he gets elected, the first thing on his to-do list is to encourage more inter-marriages.

Why inter-marriages?

“It’s the only genuine way to unite this country nationally. Let the people decide which religion they want,” he told a press conference yesterday.

Lim - who authored the controversial book Dare to Fail - is contesting as an independent candidate for the Kelana Jaya parliamentary seat.

He will be going up against PKR debutant Loh Gwo Burne - who is no stranger to controversy himself after being named as the man who filmed the infamous ‘VK Lingam’ video - and MCA veteran Lee Hwa Beng.

This will be Lim’s third election outing. The first two - where he contested for the Bukit Bintang parliamentary seat in 1999 and 2004 - were disastrous. He only garnered 198 votes and 132 in the two polls respectively.

But holding true to his principles, Lim is not a person to be discouraged by failures. However, he has decided to shift his focus to Kelana Jaya where he has been a resident for 10 years.

“I’m anti institution. My job is my boss, I don’t have to report to any party,” he said when asked why the constituents should vote for him.

To another question, the 57-year-author also revealed that he supports the setting-up of an inter-faith council.

According to him, more meetings would yield positive results as there was still a void in terms of understanding between the different religions in the country.

Independent Front

During the press conference, Lim also expressed concern over the way the media portrayed independent candidates as ‘celebrities’ citing Maimun Yusof as an example.

Maimum, an 89-year-old grandmother, is standing as an independent candidate for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary constituency.

“We are not part of a circus show. We definitely have to crack our head to win,” he said.

Lim also launched the United National Independent Front (Unif), a platform to unite all independent candidates.

He stressed that Unif is not a political party, but will function as a social networking among independent candidates. Unif will also assist potential candidates for future elections.

“In Unif, we must encourage young people, not only to vote, but also to be elected. I believe it (Unif) can produce real great leaders,” he added.

He said by being an independent candidate, they do not have to answer to the whip of various parties but only to the people in their constituency regardless of race and religion.

‘Family business’

Lim also criticised the sudden phenomenon of family members jumping into the political bandwagon and contesting to replace their parents.

He considered them as the “same content but in a new bottle.”

“It has become a family business. Looking at the issue, it’s not very healthy. Politics in this country should not be monopolised by a few families.”

He said sometimes political parties get caught up in rivalry and forget about the voice of the rakyat and nobody speaks for the nation.

Lim, who promised that ‘parliament will never be the same’ once he get elected, said people should not be impressed with all the election goodies prior to election.

“It’s more than that, you don’t vote for people because they donate to your school or sweep your longkang (drain).”

The Taiping parliamentary constituency in Perak is perhaps one of the grey seat this election. A squabble between two BN component parties - Gerakan and PPP on who is to contest the Taiping seat under the BN banner since the last General Election has made the contest for this seat even more interesting. Taiping had always been a safe seat for the BN where the DAP had contested in nine previous general elections for this seat but lost.

Since the formation of BN in 1974, Taiping had been always represented by Gerakan. However, in the last General Election in 2004, the PPP was to be allocated 1 parliamentary seat and 1 state seat. Initially, PPP was allocated the Bukit Gantang seat which belonged to UMNO and a new state seat in Selangor, Kota Alam Shah. Due to protests from UMNO grassroots in Bukit Gantang, a 3-party swap is made enable PPP president M. Kayveas to contest in Taiping while Gerakan’s Tan Lian Hoe in Bukit Gantang with UMNO giving up Bukit Gantang to Gerakan instead. However, it was agreed that the arrangement is only for one term.

And for the 2008 elections, it was initially rumored that PPP will be given another seat with UMNO getting back Bukit Gantang while Gerakan takes Taiping. However, the refusal of Kayveas to move to another seat resulted in Gerakan’s Tan Lian Hoe given the Gerik seat which belongs to UMNO instead. The decision resulted in disappointment to Gerakan grassroot leaders in Taiping.

It is interesting to analyze the 2004 election results where a 3-corner fight between BN, DAP and PKR resulted in the victory of BN candidate M. Kayveas. BN polled 20,129 votes against DAP (17,957) and PKR (4,371) to win with a majority of 2,172 votes. Looking closely at it, the DAP candidate might have won the seat if not for the opposition votes being split between DAP and PKR.

For the 2008 elections, BN’s M. Kayveas and DAP’s Nga Kor Ming are locked in a straight fight. Will BN retains the seat or will DAP wrestle the seat from BN? The verdict will be known on Saturday 8 March.

Andrew Ong of Malaysiakini wrote an analysis of the battle of Taiping:

Andrew Ong
Malaysiakini

The intermittent rainy days since nomination day has failed to cool off the political temperature in Taiping where high stakes are being played in this general election.

Observers have noted that as PPP’s sole parliamentarian, M Kayveas is facing a ‘must-win’ situation to ensure that the party is represented in Parliament.

A lost would also spell doom for the PPP as they may not be given another seat to contest in the future, coupled with the party losing a deputy ministership in the government.

Kayveas, when met yesterday, appeared confident of his chances of retaining Taiping and the maverick politician brashly brushed off suggestions that he was facing a do-or-die situation.

“It’s a situation where we would be happy if we won. We are used to losing. PPP has lost seats before. Once we lost by one seat to take over the state of Perak.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about performance. There is no point to winning and doing nothing. This is a special town and people must give me a chance to do something,” said Kayveas.

In 2004, Kayveas edged DAP’s Ong Chee Keng by 2,172 votes. The constituency has 65,455 voters comprising of 50.3 percent Chinese, followed by Malays (32.3 percent) and Indians (13.3 percent).

Enmity with Gerakan

This time around, Kayveas believes that he has the advantage of incumbency over his DAP opponent Nga Kor Ming who is also Pantai Remis state seat incumbent.

“I think the people will support me. They know me now, unlike before. They know I fought to remain here at a time where I could have walked and go anywhere I wanted but I didn’t,” he added.

And fought he did. Since his win in 2004, Kayveas was embroiled in a protracted war of words with Gerakan top brass over the Taiping seat and enmity between the two parties became worse as this election loomed.

PPP was allowed to contest in Taiping in 2004 in a complicated ‘one-off’ seat swap involving Umno and Gerakan in 2004.

But since PPP insisted on staying put in Taiping, the party’s relationship with local Umno and Gerakan grassroots turned soured.

Gerakan’s large grassroots following in Taiping have never forgiven Kayveas for ‘hijacking’ the seat which the party had firmly held between 1969 and 1999 and this may be a factor in the outcome of the polls on March 8.

Even a recent Perak BN promise that the Taiping seat would be returned to Gerakan in the next general election seemed to have placated the ground anger.

Chinese kingmakers

In addition to this, Taiping voters have also been recently reminded by the DAP that Kayveas had not fulfilled monetary pledges to several Chinese guilds and pledges to build two new Chinese schools.

In a swift counter attack, Kayveas claimed to have resolved the matter with the guilds and the schools board members over the past two days.

Details however would only be released closer to polling day to avoid the opposition from using the announcement as campaign issues.

At a speech during the function yesterday, Kayveas said he had fulfilled his pledges of RM4 million and RM1 million for Chinese guilds and Chinese schools respectively.

“I was elected (in 2004) by a constituency with 50 percent Chinese voters. I won because of the Chinese supports. That’s why over the past three years, I paid special attention to the guilds and associations,” he said.

Tenth time lucky?

On the DAP front, the battle for Taiping is going to be the biggest test ever for Nga, 35, who is one of the party’s most watched young leaders.

Should he lose the contest to Kayveas, the DAP would have sacrificed the talented two-term Pantai Remis assemblyperson in a ‘dangerous seat’ when he could have been fielded in a safer seat.

“I’m definitely the underdog in this race. We’ve contested and lost here nine times,” said Nga, who is also a practicing lawyer who won the Pantai Remis seat in 1999 at the age of 27.

Nga’s presence in Taiping has caused a stir among the populace who have flocked to listen to his lively ceramah’s despite him being an outsider.

He said the party intentionally fielded him in Taiping as part of their campaign to deny the BN a two-third majority. He is also contesting for a third-term as Pantai Remis state representative.

Other than the party’s national campaign, Nga hopes that voters would also vote against BN in view of Kayveas’ apparent failure to fulfill his 2004 pledges.

“For instance, he promised that he would reopen the Taiping airport, allocate land for SRJK (C) Hua Lian 2 and SMJK Hua Lian. Nothing materialized,

“Additionally, I have received request by not less than 12 Chinese guilds to raise the issue of unfulfilled monetary pledges made by Kayveas. The mock cheques have been given, but not the money,” he added.

BN’s development card

Since nomination day, Nga has been attacking Kayveas’ credibility by claiming that the latter was not trustworthy as he cannot fulfill his pledges.

Kayveas however have claimed that Nga cannot serve Taiping voters properly as he has to fulfill his duties as a MP and state assemblyperson if he was elected in both seats.

The veteran politician had also repeatedly warned voters during his speeches and press statements that Taiping would be devoid of state-financed development projects if they elected an opposition representative.

“Assuming that I win by a big margin and I get back my deputy minister’s post, it means I can source more funds for the community,” Kayveas said in his luncheon speech yesterday.

Nga said that he would be countering Kayveas’ ‘development carrot’ by giving voters facts on Sitiawan’s economic progress despite the area being a opposition fortress.

“Sitiawan is the fastest developing town in Perak. Why? Because Barisan desperately wants to win back the seat,” he explained.

“I have no idea why Kayveas claims opposition held areas have no development. If there is development here, young people like you don’t have to work in Kuala Lumpur and this place won’t be called a retiree’s paradise,” he quipped.

Based on ground sentiments, Kayveas appeared to be the likely winner for contest but with seven days left of campaigning, Nga is said to have a chance of catching up and score an upset.

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: The Lingam video maker, Loh Gwo Burne, will surely lose one vote in the Kelana Jaya parliamentary seat he is contesting.

“V.K. Lingam lives in Kelana Jaya, so I will surely not get his vote,” he said.

But now it has been revealed that the 34-year-old Parti Keadilan Rakyat debutant also cannot count on another vote – his own.

Our plan: DAP candidate Yeoh Tseow Suan for the Subang Jaya state seat and Loh talking to the press about their plans in Desa Mentari, Petaling Jaya, on Tuesday

The consultant failed to register himself as a voter on time.

He said he had spent most of his years growing up and studying overseas and is now based in Shanghai running his family business.

“I was studying in China until 2001 and after that I had no opportunity to vote in the 2004 election because I was not around,” said Loh, registered himself in December last year when he became politically-aware.

He was unaware that the registration process took months.

“I am annoyed to be unable to vote”,” said Loh, who blames it on the Election Commission’s slow process.

Loh said he and his father Loh Mui Fah, were approached by the PKR and DAP to contest.

He agreed because several people he met had recognised him from the Lingam case.

On talk that there was dissatisfaction among PKR members as MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud had to give up the seat for him at the last minute, Loh appeared surprised.

“I am not aware. We were offered choices of seats and I was told that Syed Shahir would be going to Pandan,” he said.

Loh admitted that one of his biggest challenges was being unprepared having just decided to contest last week.

“I am not well-prepared so I have to improve my speaking skills for ceramah as I go along. Malay language is not my strongest point,” said Loh, citing Anwar and Tun Dr Mahathir as good speakers.

Today is Friday 29 February 2008, the Leap Year’s Day, a date that is added to adjust the calendar to the Earths’ rotation around the Sun.

29 February is added to a year which is divisible by 4 but not 100, unless it is divisible by 400.

Perhaps, a notable thing for the Leap Year’s Day in 2008 for Malaysia, this could be the first time in the nation’s history where a Leap Years’ Day sees the country on election campaign mode, where polling will be held on next Saturday, 8 March.

Happy Leap Year’s Day to everyone.

Soon Li Tsin
Malaysiakini

It was proven in St Francis Xavier’s Church last night that comparing how Malaysia is better off than Burma will only result in boos and jeers.

This was the response that Petaling Jaya Selatan (PJS) parliamentary incumbent Donald Lim received when he used the same example on how well the country is doing - several times.

“Under the BN leadership, we are doing much better than Burma …” he said before he was interrupted by boos and jeers.

In a closed-door election forum attended by 250 parishioners, voters in the church were given a rare chance to hear both Barisan Nasional and opposition candidate slug it out on stage.

The deputy tourism minister was pitted against his opponent PKR’s Hee Loy Sian while Bukit Gasing incumbent Gerakan’s Dr Lim Thuan Seng squared off with DAP’s Edward Lee.

The session kicked off with the soft-spoken Hee introducing himself before explaining PKR manifesto to the audience.

Boos and cheers

This was followed by Donald’s pitch on BN’s past successes and his PJS manifesto for the city which includes battling crime and traffic problems.

Thuan Seng - who was late - gave a speech on his past achievements and how he has given his best to help his constituents.

Last speaker Lee was clearly the ‘star’ of the night when he promised to lobby for local council elections should he be elected and urged the people to be more proactive in handling community issues which drew applause numerous times.

The question-and-answer session resulted in many serious discussion surrounding PJ’s traffic woes and high assessment rates.

Lee drew cheers when answering several questions but Hee remained silent throughout since most of the questions were directed to the two BN candidates.

However, the session was mostly punctuated by humourous moments most notably when Donald developed a trend in his answers by saying ‘That is an interesting question’ and ‘You can call me and I will get it done’ for every question directed to him.

Asked to comment on how to stop talented Malaysians from leaving the country, the three-term PJS parliamentarian said he was ‘okay with it’ before talking about the ‘Malaysia My Second Home’ program which led to boos by the crowd again.

When a member of the audience asked Donald to talk about oil subsidies and profits by Pertonas, he said it was ‘not a state issue’ to more jeers from the audience.

The crowd also laughed at Donald’s expression as he passed the microphone to Thuan Seng several times to avoid questions.

Towards the tail end of the Q&A session, Maxwell Towers Residents Association chairman Victor Oorjitham had challenged the BN to sign a pledge that they help prevent Bukit Gasing from being developed and to get Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to make a public announcement that there will be no development on the 15.52 hectare secondary forest.

The crowd gave a standing ovation as Victor went up on stage to give the respective incumbents the pledge form.

Not signing pledge

However, Thuan Seng (right) declined to sign it but promised to get the Kuala Lumpur City Hall to disclose their development plans.

“I am not going to sign this pledge. When you talk about your rights, about justice and fairness but we must think about other people’s rights.

“I won’t say I can do this and that and perform miracles like somebody’s manifesto, they are bluffing. At the end of the day I will walk away with my conscience clear.

“If you want to vote me in or not this time, it’s your choice. I’ll do what I can for you. I’ll let my records speak for itself,” he said.

Meanwhile Donald said he can sign the pledge but is unable to get Abdullah to make a public announcement.

“If you come to see me, we can do something about it. What for I sign something that is impossible. Come see me, we can discuss ways to get around it,” he said to the amusement of the audience.

DBKL has approved land owner Gasing Meridian Sdn Bhd’s plans to build 142 bungalows on the green lung of Petaling Jaya.

Protests have taken place since 2006 from residents concerned with the possible land erosion due to the hill’s soil composition which may results in landslides.

The Catholic SFX parish has previously held a similar dialogue between the BN and opposition candidates in the 2004 election.