The Najib emerged victorious after a most gruelling fight at the 13th general election.
Najib Abdul Razak, a simple majority of 112 seats, finally has his own mandate. In the next couple of weeks, a lot of analyses will be made and a lot of soul-searching done as the battered wrestles with the huge urban swing to Pakatan Rakyat.
Pro-Umno blogger Papagomo has been arrested, according to a tweet by the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) on Twitter.
Pro-Pakatan blogger King Jason has also been arrested.
“Papagomo and King Jason were arrested to facilitate police investigation,” the posting read.
The latest posting by Papagomo contained racial remarks against Chinese Malaysians, while King Jason’s posting accused BN of buying votes.
According to Free Malaysia Today, a PKR member in Sarawak had lodged a police report against Papagomo over a comment in his blog which urged Chinese Malaysians to be harmed.
Police sources in Bukit Aman also said that they are also looking for two other bloggers who may have allegedly posted articles or statements which touch on racial lines.
Police also tweeted that it had received a report against Utusan Malaysia over the front page headline ‘Apa lagi Cina mahu’ (What else do the Chinese want?).
The police have classified the report against Utusan under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1946.
Utusan Malaysia’s pitting of the Chinese against the Malays on its front page today flies in the face of the national reconciliation process promised by Datuk Seri Najib Razak, former Umno deputy minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah has said.
The outspoken politician said a more intelligent approach should be used to dissect the outcome of last Sunday’s polls, disagreeing with the simple notion that it had merely been a “Chinese tsunami” that caused the Barisan Nasional (BN) to bleed seats.
“This kind of headline is totally uncalled for. More so when the PM, in his victory speech, spoke about national reconciliation.
“I feel very, very sad that Utusan came up with such a thing,” he told The Malaysian Insider when contacted.
Saifuddin (picture) said that while it was true that many among those in the Chinese community had voted against BN, it did not make these voters “ungrateful” or anti-Malay.
“We need to look at the results in totality. Maybe there was the Chinese vote… but it was not against the Malays and certainly not about being ungrateful.
“It was more like they wanted to teach the MCA a lesson. Some of them told me frankly — we like you, but we want to teach the MCA a lesson,” he said.
Saifuddin was responding to today’s front-page report in Umno’s Utusan Malaysia where the paper posted the question “Apa lagi Cina mahu (What else do the Chinese want?)” in what appeared to be an attempt to shape the results of Election 2013 as a Chinese-vs-Malay vote.
The Malay-language daily, which is known to represent the right-wing forces aligned largely with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, published a number of stories blaming the Chinese for dividing Malaysia.
In the wrap-around front page, it featured a number of photographs which allegedly showed Chinese-looking youths wearing black to protest the results of the election.
The photographs are believed to have been lifted from the Internet and were also used by many right-wing bloggers aligned with Dr Mahathir.
Other stories highlighted on the front page include a quote attributed to former Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam that “they (Chinese) are very racist”.
In bullet points, the newspaper blamed the DAP for race politics, and said the secular party wanted Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister so that it could rule the country.
Saifuddin pointed out that it was no secret that Umno owns the controversial Malay- language daily and by using such headlines, it appeared as if this was the stand taken by the BN lynchpin and its coalition partners.
In a Twitter posting earlier today, Saifuddin publicly expressed disagreement with the headline, saying, “Sy tak setuju tajuk “apa lagi Cina mahu?” Utusan Msia hr ni.Kita mesti bijaksana menilai keputusan PRU13. Sy kalah,tp x salahkn sesiapa.”
[Translation: I disagree with the headline ‘What else do the Chinese want?” inUtusan Malaysia today. We must be smart when evaluating the results of the 13th general election. I lost but I did not blame anyone.]
In Sunday’s polls, Saifuddin lost by a marginal 1,070 votes in his defence of the Temerloh federal seat to PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan.
At the national level, BN cemented its place in Putrajaya with a smaller majority than in Election 2008, winning 133 seats to Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) 89.
But the ruling pact lost in terms of the popular vote, a factor that analysts are using to disagree with the notion that it had merely been a “Chinese tsunami” that caused the vote swing towards PR.
MIC leader Datuk M. Saravanan has backed Utusan Malaysia’s attack on Chinese voters, calling them ungrateful for voting against the Barisan Nasional (BN) government which he said had served the community well.
The Tapah MP also suggested that the government not help Chinese voters who rejected the coalition in Sunday’s polls.
“I agree with the views of Datuk Seri Ali Rustam because even in my constituency, I have fulfilled my responsibility as MP well.
“I can’t find any reasons why they should reject me… I share his view,” Saravanan (picture) told reporters after attending a closed-door meeting between BN lawmakers and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the PWTC here.
Ali, the former Malacca chief minister, was defeated in the contest for the Bukit Katil parliamentary seat in Sunday’s polls.
The Umno supreme council member, who joined a list of big casualties in a polls battle that bloodied the ruling coalition’s nose, blamed the Chinese for his loss, calling them “ungrateful” for rejecting BN despite his contribution to the community when he was chief minister.
Saravanan noted that Najib instructed BN lawmakers not to turn the 13 party coalition’s failure to win a bigger mandate into a race issue.
However, the MIC vice-president was quick to point out that BN had done all it could to meet Chinese demands but the community has not been appreciative and appeared adamant to vote the coalition out.
“(Najib) said we should approach them based on issues but I don’t until when… we have given the best. How are they to realise?” he said.
Umno’s Utusan Malaysia front-paged today the question “Apa lagi Cina mahu (What else do the Chinese want?) in what appeared to be an attempt to shape the results of Election 2013 as a Chinese-vs-Malay vote.
Analysts have said data from voting trends showed the outcome of Election 2013 was not simply the result of a “Chinese tsunami” as Najib has claimed but a major swing in the urban and middle-class electorate that saw Malaysia’s urban-rural rift widen.
But Utusan Malaysia, a newspaper that has represented the right-wing forces aligned largely with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, decided today to publish a number of stories blaming the Chinese for dividing Malaysia.
Utusan Malaysia’s front page also suggests that Najib will have his hands full dealing with the powerful right-wing faction in Umno from which he received strong backing in the elections.
An analysis of how the vote went shows a country with rural-urban and class divisions that will make any reconciliation and necessary reforms even more difficult to implement.
