It has been more than a month since the 8 March 2008 political tsunami which sees the BN losing their 2/3 majority in Parliament and conceding 5 state assemblies to Pakatan Rakyat. The Federal Government and all state governments have been established, although Perak, Perlis and Terengganu faced with some problems initially. However, it seems, there is still too much politicking, especially by BN over their losses.

The state governments of Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor under Pakatan Rakyat have started working immediately after their Chief Ministers were sworn in. Whereas, the media is full of coverage of finger-pointing within BN components parties as to why the BN suffered a setback in the elections. Calls for the Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to step down have been going on for the last 5 weeks. Politicking within BN parties are set to steal the limelight this year, particularly UMNO, MCA and Gerakan, as their party elections will be held this year.

Not enough with that, in recent weeks, in particular, Selangor, politicking continues over the pig farming project in Kuala Langat. It is well-known now that it was the previous BN administration that approves the project weeks prior to the General Election. Why the objection when the new administration decides to go on with it? To the BN in Selangor, do you oppose just because you are now the Opposition? As the opposition, you do not oppose for the sake of opposing. Rather, the opposition’s role is to provide check and balance to the government.

It’s time to stop all the politicking and start working for the people, as, no matter the government or the opposition, it is the rakyat that voted you in. Makkal Sakhti!

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has created various record since he became Prime Minister on 31 October 2003.

His records

1. In the 21 March 2004 General Elections, he led the BN to the most impressive win in history since Independence. BN won 199 out of 219 Parliamentary seats, giving it a 91% majority. At the state level, BN won all states except Kelantan with at least 2/3 majority, which includes recapturing Terengganu from PAS. BN came close to recapturing Kelantan where PAS clinged on to power with a 3-seat majority.
2. He is also the PM who made the most number of overseas trip, both official and private. Until the 12th General Election recently, he is known to be going overseas on an average 2 trips a month.
3. He is also the first PM who remarried.
4. In the 8 March 2008 General Elections, he led the BN to another record, but the opposite of 2004. This time, BN sufferred the worst results since Independence, losing its 2/3 majority in Parliament by winning only 140 out of 222 seats in Parliament, losing the state governments of Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor, besides failing to capture Kelantan.
5. He is also the first PM who comes from a state ruled by the Opposition. (in this case, Penang).

The political tsunami perhaps bring good news to us - we might be paying less for petrol soon, but here’s the catch. We will be getting a lower octane petrol instead.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, Shahrir Samad said a proposal to provide higher subsidies for lower octane petrol to benefit the low and middle-income consumers while lower subsidies for high octane petrol as option to the rich. Currently, petrol stations in Malaysia are selling Octane 92 petrol, which is mainly used by motorcycles, and Octane 97 for other petrol-powered vehicles.

Under this proposal, petrol stations will sell Octane 95 and Octane 99 petrol instead. The government will focus on providing subsidies for Octane 95, while Octane 99 will still be subsidised, but less. The will result in a much lower price for Octane 95 petrol compared to Octane 99. Octane 95 petrol is said to be suitable for all petrol-powered vehicles. Cars such as Mercedes Benz can also be powered by Octane 95 petrol, but will not have a high performance advantage unless Octane 99 is used.

So, it is hoped that this move will reduce our burden due to the higher inflation we are facing today! Come to think of it, why didn’t the BN government implement this earlier? It takes a political tsunami which results in the loss of 2/3 majority in Parliament as well as 5 state governments to their opponents for them to come with this proposal. And, it is currently still a proposal, with no time frame set yet for the implementation! The people would have benefited from this earlier if the government had implemented this proposal 2 years ago when the price of petrol was increased by 30 sen per litre!

Perhaps some of you have heard of the R-A-H-M-A-N prophecy which determines the first 6 Prime Ministers of Malaysia. So far, 5 Prime Ministers have fulfilled the prophecy, leaving the last which remains to be seen if it will be fulfilled. The five Prime Ministers are:

R: Tunku Abdul Rahman
A: Tun Abdul Razak
H: Tun Hussein Onn
M: Tun Dr. Mahathir
A: Dato’ Seri Abdullah Badawi
N: ???

So, is the next Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak? He will fulfill the R-A-H-M-A-N prophecy nicely! But, with the current political situation, anything deemed impossible can be possible. After all, nobody would have believed that BN will lose their 2/3 majority in Parliament, and they lost! Nobody would ever think that Perak and Selangor would fall to Pakatan Rakyat (DAP, PKR and PAS) and Pakatan Rakyat is now the state governments in Perak and Selangor as well as Penang, Kedah and Kelantan.

Abdullah’s days as Prime Minister is widely believed to be numbered. Calls for his resignation has been made by various leaders, including from his party UMNO. Among them former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir and his son who is newly elected Jerlun MP, Mukhriz Mahathir. Former UMNO Vice President, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, fondly known as Ku Li has indicated that he will challenge Abdullah for the Presidents’ post in the UMNO party polls in December. However, Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib has voiced his backing to Abdullah to continue leading the government and party.

Will Najib make it to the PM’s post, thus fulfilling this prophecy? Or will the prophecy fails after all? Will Ku Li be successful in his bid to win the UMNO President’s post, thus allowing him to claim the PM’s job?

Since the end of 2007, speculation had been around that the price of petrol would be increase after the General Election which was then expected to be before April 2008. True, the election was held on 8 March 2008 and speculation had been that the price of petrol would be increase on 1 April 2008, perhaps even earlier.

During the election campaign, the opposition parties such as DAP, PKR and PAS had been campaigning on the issue of oil prices, among others. De factor leader of PKR, Anwar Ibrahim even promised that if the opposition pact of DAP, PKR and PAS would win the election and form the Federal Government, the price of petrol would be reduced the next day (9 March). The BN on the other hand, had been trying to justify the increase since the 30 sen increase in April 2006 that the government has no control of the world oil prices and would not be able to sustain the subsidies.

So, on 8 March, Malaysians went to the polls, and nearly half of the overall voters, slightly less than half in Peninsula Malaysia, voted the opposition pact! That resulted in a political tsunami which sees the BN losing their 2/3 majority, losing 4 states - Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, failing to capture Kelantan, and only won 1 out of 11 seats in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. The political tsunami is a result of many factors, the increase in oil prices in 2006 which in turn resulted in the increase of cost of living are among the many factors.

The Star columnist VK Chin wrote an analysis titled No petrol price hike in accordance with people’s wish. I would quote the first 6 paragraphs here:

“DATUK Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said last week there would be no increase in the petrol price, since this was the wish of the people. The Prime Minister said his administration had accepted and recognised the strong message of voters as reflected in the result of the 2008 general election.

Prices of petroleum products, such as petrol, diesel and natural gas have always been associated with rising costs of consumers goods and, hence, an increase in the cost of living.

Pak Lah could have given this assurance during the election campaign but did not because the cost of fuel is dependent on the global price of crude oil, which is beyond the control of any government.

It would have been difficult to give such an undertaking without first taking into consideration what petroleum subsidies could do to the economy.

He and his colleagues therefore preferred not to make promises that they might not be able to keep, especially if such a decision could damage the nation’s financial position in the long term.

Since voters felt so strongly about this issue, the Government had to accept the will of the people. But this is only one part of the story since profiteering by unscrupulous firms and traders must also be taken into account.”

So, it takes a very strong message from the voters to halt the decision to increase the price of petrol and other petroleum products. And if the government can sustain without increasing the petrol price, why didn’t they listen to the people 2 years ago when many had voiced out against the 30 sen increase? Protests were held at KLCC 2 years ago against the petrol price hike, and the authorities responded with water cannons and tear gases!

The opposition parties had explained that the government can sustain even if the petrol price is reduced, but the government is in denial! While everyone is happy now at least, the petrol price will not be increased for now, we do not know how long will this last. It will be a bonus if the government takes the people’s message in the elections more seriously, by reducing the price of petrol by 30 sen per liter!