PSM's geese & blossom life

Malaysiakini - PSM announces 5 parliamentary, 12 state seat candidates (extracts):

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) today announced their candidates for five parliament seats and 12 state seats in the upcoming 14th general elections.

[...]

Below are the list of candidates:

Parliamentary seats:

Cameron Highlands, Pahang: B Suresh Kumar
Subang, Selangor: A Sivarajan
Batu Gajah, Perak: Segar
Hulu Langat, Selangor: S Arutchelvan
Sungai Siput, Perak: Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj

State seats:

Jelapang, Perak: M Saraswathy Sarasvathy

Tronoh, Perak: Andy Chin
Buntong, Perak: Rani Rasiah
Menglembu, Perak: Chin Kwai Leong
Malim Nawar, Perak: KS Bawani
Semenyih, Selangor: Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul
Bukit Lanjan, Selangor: V Selvam
Port Klang, Selangor: Patrik Shan
Seri Muda, Selangor: Abdul Razak Ismail
Kota Damansara, Selangor: Dr Nasir Hashim
Jelai, Pahang: Mohd Nor Ayat
Kota Lama, Kelantan: Khairul Nizam Abd Ghani (Aduka Taruna)

Arutchelvan said that all the above candidates are members of PSM except for Razak who is a member of Otai Reformis but will contest in Seri Muda under a PSM ticket.

Arutchelvan 

PSM can be quite annoying for its double standards though I must confess I have been quite tolerant of the party's political peccadilloes against the DAP and have wondered: Could it be due to my intrinsic socialist nature? Wakakaka.

PSM through Dr Michael Jeyakumar has often called on Pakatan or specifically the DAP not to also contest in the Sungai Siput federal seat because a 3-corner fight will invariably 'bestow' the seat to the BN. He has been right and I support his continuing fight to remain as MP for Sungai Siput.

But then, when PSM puts up candidates in DAP held seats in what would inevitably be losing contests for PSM but which process (3-corner fights) would/will take away votes the DAP otherwise would have won, I couldn't but feel PSM speaks geese as in 'What's good for the goose is good for the gander'.

Would that not be the double standard of PSM? It reminds me of my cousin who in our schoolie days would beg me not to sapu his GF but who would have no compunction in sapu-ing mine, wakakaka (Bastard, he always did succeed .. sob sob sob).

But the PSM could be said to be worse, in that it targeted mainly seats held by DAP Indian representatives. Why? Is the PSM after all an Indian party when I have been defending its multiracial characteristics?

know the Malaysian story of crabs in a basket? 

The list above shows PSM proposed candidates and lamentable double standard.

Minus the PAS held seat of Kota Lama in Kelantan (which I won't discuss) these would be: 

Federal: P66 Batu Gajah, Perak

In 2013 the federal seat of Batu Gajah was won by DAP's V. Sivakumar who amassed 53,900 votes with a majority of 38,596 votes against his MCA opponent Loo Thin Tuck who won only 15,304 votes.

Sivakumar has been the most famed DUN speaker who set a precedence in 2009 by holding the Perak DUN assembly underneath a tree after he was thrown out of the Perak DUN by questionable authorities and barred from entering it as the legitimate Speaker of the House - for more see my 2009 posts:

(1) Half past six-es in Perak.

(2) Judiciary can't interfere with BN Legislative, but can with Pakatan Legislative.

(3) Perak DUN assembled under tree.

Asia Times Online wrote under the authorship of our very own Penang lang Anil Netto (extracts):

An impromptu street-side legislative gathering under a tree has already been dubbed Pokok Demokrasi - or Democracy Tree - and is set to enter the annals of folklore in Ipoh, the capital city of Malaysia's Perak state. 

In an open space beneath a 20-meter high raintree and another lush mango tree nearby, opposition lawmakers in Perak, peninsular Malaysia's second-largest state, held an emergency session on Tuesday as a crowd of several hundred looked on.

It was a morning of high drama, starting when riot police blocked the 28 legislators from entering parliament. After a brief tussle, they headed to the shade of the large tree, where Perak State Assembly speaker V Sivakumar, attired in his full ceremonial regalia, solemnly put forward three motions to the 27 elected assembly members from the opposition People's Alliance.

The first motion was a vote of confidence in Nizar Jamaluddin as the legitimate menteri besar (equivalent to chief minister). The second was a motion to seek permission from the sultan of Perak for the dissolution of the State Assembly, paving the way for fresh elections - a prospect that remains unlikely given the impasse.

Nizar Jamaluddin 

The final motion was to adopt the privileges committee's report which had earlier resulted in the speaker suspending rival Menteri Besar, Zambry Abdul Kadir and the six members of his governing team.

A moment of humor occurred when the speaker asked the elected representatives, "Setuju [Agreed]?"

Instead of only the elected representatives responding, the whole crowd cheered and acclaimed, "Setuju!"

Elected representatives then had to urge the onlookers to maintain the solemn decorum of the proceedings. The crowd was told that the "Setuju" response was only to be made by the elected representatives.

One onlooker was heard muttering, "We are also part of this assembly. We have a right to express our confidence in the chief minister."

Prior to Sivakumar of the 'Raintree Democracy' fame, the incumbent was another very popular DAP member, Fong Po Kuan, with her gorgeous nick of the sweet 'chili padi' MP, which may give you an idea of her performance in Parliament. She gave way to Sivakumar in 2013 after withdrawing from front-line politics partly because of intra DAP Perak tussling.

sweetie Fong Po Kuan
law graduate of Internationale Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)

as invincible as Teresa Kok

Wikipedia informs us:
During her first term, she was suspended for six months from Parliament without wages or allowances for criticising the Speaker of the House.

 Her suspension was unique in that the Speaker had waived the seven-day notice period required to raise the issue, and that the matter was never brought to the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges.

The 83 MPs, all from the Speaker's party, who voted for suspension only constituted 43% of parliament; while this was a majority of those present in the hall, it did not have a simple majority of the total number of MPs. The suspension was widely seen to be vindictive.

What PSM is up to when it decides to put its candidate Mr Segar in the DAP blue-ribbon seat of Batu Gajah to contest against V. Sivakumar and undoubtedly a BN candidate.

There's virtually no hope for PSM Segar, so I need to ask: Is the PSM's aim just to kacau DAP Indian candidates?

State seats:

(a) Jelapang, Perak: M Saraswathy Sarasvathy

I have blogged quiet a bit on Jelapang and the obvious objectionable obduracy of PSM in standing poor sweetie M Sarasvathy there a third time despite 2 previous disasters. I'll just cut & paste my earlier post on Jelapang, as follows:

PSM lost in Jelapang Perak twice to DAP. It did not even gain second position, when in 2013 in a 3-cornered fight it was thrashed kau kau by DAP and BN.

Despite its severe thrashing, PSM has again staked its intentions to contest in, would you believe it, Jelapang, apart from some other Perak seats. Apart from PSM's masochistic behaviour, could you blame Nga Kor Ming (DAP) for playing tit-for-tat with PSM by DAP contesting in Sungai Siput?

But now almost everyone is blaming DAP for 'giving away' Sungai Siput to BN, without examining what PSM intents to do to DAP.

Dr Jeya's argument is that Pakatan's hold on its 2013 (also 2008) won-seats has left PSM with little options, in short, Dr Jeya wants Pakatan (whether DAP, PKR etc) to move aside for PSM.

OK, let's examine PSM contest in Jelapang in 2013 and PSM's then-demand that DAP gave way, despite the state constituency being a DAP stronghold.

The ethnic ratio in Jelapang was 7% Malays: 68% Chinese: 25% Indians and these wouldn't have changed much even now, unless new army camps have sprung up there, wakakaka. I doubt BN would bother in Jelapang.

A 25% Indian votes could be considered a typical reasonable constituency for PSM, which in the final analysis showed(s) PSM was/is just an Indian-majority party.

But Jelapang is only viable for PSM if the party could secure more Malay and Chinese support, say at least 15% from each. I believe most Malays are repulsed by PSM's socialist character and its logo which shows semblance to communist-type or revolutionary-type parties.

aggressive?

Chinese term such gestures as showing one's 'koon t'au boe' - an aggressive fighting hand gesture

But with the DAP contesting there, how will PSM chip away at the almost 70% Chinese vote-base?

One could argue that the DAP should now 'give' that seat to compatriot PSM but alas, in the 2013 general election the 3-corner fight showed PSM came out last, yes, bloody last, even losing to the BN candidate.
While the DAP candidate, Teh Hock Ke, won 68.9% of the votes and BN 18.9%, Sarasvathy Muthu (Saras) of PSM could only secure 10.4%.

For all her party's Indian-ness, Saras couldn't even marshal together a decent proportion of the 25% Indian votes in Jelapang, yet PSM obdurately stood her in a DAP stronghold. Yes, PSM has been known to stubborn at times, but only to its great disadvantage.

If DAP had given that seat to PSM (as it nearly to PKR in Baty Kitang in Sarawak), the BN candidate would have laughed his way to the Perak DUN.

Really, the PSM should consider joining either PKR or the DAP as there is no more room for small boutique parties such as has PSM or even PRM.

(b) Tronoh, Perak: Andy Chin

Yong Choo Kiong (DAP) won 13,243 votes (77%) of with a majority of 6,191 votes.

What does PSM hope to achieve by standing Andy Chin in Tronoh, other than to unwittingly play spoiler with a 3-corner fight, one which PSM Dr Jeya himself has been urging the DAP not to do so in Sungai Siput.

Other suicide missions for PSM would be the next two state seats of Perak, namely Buntong and Menglembu:

In Buntong, another DAP Indian rep, Sivasubramaniam A/L Athinarayanan won 13,062 of the total votes of 22,847 (79.8% turnout). His majority was 8,629. 

In Menglembu, Lim Pek Har (DAP) won 20,694 in a turnout of 24,888 votes (81.1%) with a majority of 16,799.

wakakaka, Menglembu most famous product 

Those PSM candidates will be just cannon fodder. I won't say anymore of the rest (with one exception) as they will give the same picture.  

(c) Buntong, Perak: Rani Rasiah
(d) Menglembu, Perak: Chin Kwai Leong
(e) Malim Nawar, Perak: KS Bawani
(f) Semenyih, Selangor: Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul
(g) Bukit Lanjan, Selangor: V Selvam
(h) Port Klang, Selangor: Patrik Shan
(i) Seri Muda, Selangor: Abdul Razak Ismail
(j) Kota Damansara, Selangor: Dr Nasir Hashim
(k) Jelai, Pahang: Mohd Nor Ayat

OK, my exception to a basiclly pointless discussion on PSM's kamikaze gambit is that I'll just pick one more, a PKR seat, to illustrate PSM's silliness and spoiler role, namely, Eli Wong's Bukit Lanjan in Selangor.

Out of 39,978 votes cast in 2013 GE13, Eli won 87.1% with a majority of 17,200. Sweetie decimated kaukau her BN opponent Chong Tuck Chiew who only managed to obtain 8,608 votes. Eli Wong's victory has been of TeresaKok-ian proportion.

Tell me, what is PSM's intention in Bukit Lanjan? What does it hope to achieve in Eli's stronghold?

But alas, PSM may f**k up PKR in N46 Pelabuhan Klang, just as PAS f**k up PSM in Kota Damansara in GE13.

In 2013 GE the majority for Pelabuhan Klang was only 3000 in a state constituency of nearly 40,000, not a comfy majority.

In this short interval to GE14 I'm not sure what to say about PSM's Don Quixote silliness, but for the long term it should consider merging with PRM and any Green Party, where the former is trying to come up in Penang and the latter may be a likely future prospect. I believe they will find common grounds in socialism and concerns for the environment. Maybe that's the Third Force we are looking for.

I dedicated to PSM the following (translated) poem written on 15 August 1945 by Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi, the brain behind the suicide bombing known to the West as kamikaze.

Today in flower, Tomorrow scattered by the wind — Such is our blossom life. How can we think its fragrance lasts forever?

After penning the poem, Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi committed sepukku.