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Tuesday 11 March 2008

Chegubard Spills The Dirt


If you have been following the Blogger For Public Office campaign that we Malaysian bloggers collectively launched, you may notice that Chegubard or more formally known as Badrul Hisham Shaharin was the only candidate that did not win his seat - in Rembau.

A crying shame, because he had his heart in the right place. And while I did not manage to be acquainted with him personally, I have friends of sound judgement who will vouch for his integrity and capability anyday.

It was not because he didn't have what it took to win the election. Oh no.

The playing field was not level, something we suspected from the start.

This morning at 11.30am, Chegubard held his press conference to expose the underhanded tactics of his Barisan Nasional opponent, more commonly referred to in the blogosphere as Kera Jantan (among others - Chicken Shit being KL Confidential's preferred choice of monicker).

Dirty Tactic #1:

Refusal to issue a permit to Chegubard so he could campaign freely in fields and community halls. Questioning the decision yielded a simple answer, "Because I have the power to do so."

Worse, Chegubard was even prevented from entering certain villages to campaign.

Dirty Tactic #2:

Importing gangsters to vandalise, burn and steal Chegubard's campaign equipment, posters, buntings, banners, and flags. In a somewhat rural location like Rembau, a physical presence is necessary - having merely the internet as a tool does not work.

Dirty Tactic #3:

A tainted electoral roll. Nothing surprising there. We all know it exists. Phantom voters abounded. There were more ghosts in those ballot rooms than there are in a cemetery. Or in an entire season of 'Ghost Whisperer'.

And heck, we have some really old relics voting in Rembau, some spanning two whole centuries in age, damn them. There were probably a couple of infants casting ballots for good measure.

Dirty Tactic #4:

This particular one is funky. Reserve ballot boxes were brought in with no legal documentation. Chegubard was leading by quite a number initially, much to the delight of his supporters.

And then the Election Commission brought in a new box with additional votes. For it to be legal, every ballot box that is to be counted MUST be accompanied by a Form 14. Not these ones.

Questioning it also yielded a simple answer, "We ran out of forms".

******

The filthy tricks that the Kera Jantan is capable of.

Kiss my a$$, you snivelling, self-serving, suck hole with a snout in the trough!!!

At this point, I'm ready to go ballistic! Kera Jantan should be removed from his seat and given a room as a guest in Kamunting with the HINDRAF 5. I'm sure he could expect some fine treatment there from the other inmates.

Our NGO for Human Rights, SUARAM acknowledges that this elections were still quite dirty.

Amidst the euphoria and optimism of a new era in Malaysian politics and society, however, SUARAM would like to remind that the election was still far from a clean and fair one. SUARAM strongly refutes the claims that the result of this election demonstrates that the electoral system in the country is free and fair.

The fundamental principle of ‘one person one vote’ still needs to be restored. Election watchdogs have also documented various electoral frauds and irregularities, ranging from allegations of rigged electoral roll and phantom voters to unfair media access and outright vote-buying during the elections.

It would therefore not be too far-fetched to say that had the election been conducted in a clean, free and fair manner, even bigger changes would have been possible.

I reckon without the rigging of elections, we could have even swung a two-thirds majority in favour of the Opposition...

I demand a re-election for the constituency of Rembau with the entire nation watching intently!

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