GE13 will see the largest number of Independents ever in the history of Malaysian elections, and the fact is that these are not real Independents but disgruntled members from both sides.

ASK any politician why they are in politics and they will tell you it is because of their undying wish to serve the people. They would also say, with a straight face, that they are fully dedicated to their party and their fellow party members.

If you were to believe them – and there are many people who would swallow everything they say as gospel truth – it is truly their wish to build this nation and to bring a better future for the people and country.

It is not about themselves, it is not about positions, and it is not about rewards, so they will say bravely at the ceramah.

Yet, amazingly, when they are not picked as candidates by their respective parties, they turn into spoilt brats.

Last week, supporters of Gelang Patah MCA chief Jason Teoh protested after he was replaced by Datuk Ghani Othman as the Barisan Nasional candidate against DAP strongman Lim Kit Siang. The operations centre was shut down as Teoh went off sulking.

With due respect, he may have worked hard in the constituency but, as a minnow, voters wouldn’t even give him a second thought if they had to choose between him and Lim.

But in the case of Ghani, at least voters who would otherwise vote for Lim would have to ponder a while about the effects of their decision.

Looking at the larger picture, by pitting Ghani against Lim – a move which the latter certainly did not expect as he thought he would just walk over Teoh – Barisan has tied Lim down in Gelang Patah.

But on Friday, Teoh came to his senses and openly pledged his support for Ghani as well as urged full support for the two Barisan candidates running for the state seats.

Supporters of Wangsa Maju MCA chief Yew Teong Look also staged a protest after they found out that the seat had gone to Umno.

Yew may have been working hard but the reality is that the constituency is a Malay-majority area. The other reality, of course, is that no individual can claim ownership to any seat.

In Penang, former deputy minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shariff Omar likewise is contesting the Tasik Gelugor parliamentary seat as a Pakatan Rakyat-friendly candidate. He has been given the sack by Umno.

The veteran Umno leader doesn’t seem to remember that he has had his opportunities, having served as a deputy chief minister in Penang and federal deputy minister. At one time, he was said to have aspired to become the Governor of Penang.

One wonders what he still hopes to gain at 66 years old when he should stay by the sidelines and lend support to the party.

On the Pakatan Rakyat side, Tapah PKR chief Ridzuan Bani has entered the race as an independent candidate. He said his supporters and party members – not him – were unhappy with the leadership’s chosen candidate, K. Vasantha Kumar.

Malacca DAP veteran and incumbent Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him has also been sacked after he decided to contest the Kota Laksamana state seat as an Independent. He is defending the Kota Melaka parliamentary seat as a DAP candidate.

In Selangor, incumbent Teratai DAP assemblyman Jenice Lee was expelled after she decided to defend her seat as an Independent after being dropped from the party list.

But the biggest surprise of the day has to be the decision of Wanita Umno deputy chief Datuk Kamilia Ibrahim’s move to contest as an Independent in the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary seat. This follows Barisan’s decision not to field her in a seat of her choice and instead offered her the state seat of Bukit Chandan.

There was more confusion – PKR and PAS are fighting each other in the Labuan parliamentary seat and the Sungai Acheh state seat in Penang. One wonders how these respective candidates were able to get the letters of endorsement to enable them to represent their parties. This will only benefit the Barisan candidates in these two areas.

When nominations closed yesterday, there were 79 Independents contesting parliamentary seats and 191 contesting state seats. This is surely the largest number of Independents ever in the history of Malaysian elections, and the fact is that these are not real Independents but disgruntled members from both sides.

Although the attention is focused on Barisan and Pakatan, one should not underestimate the presence of these Independents, especially in a close fight.

They could split the votes of the respective parties, especially if they have worked in the constituencies in the past few years.

We may call these Independents spoilers, but they certainly will add to the excitement of this closely fought general election.

THE Ah Tee Koay Teow Kia Restaurant in Taman Bintang Jaya, Labis, serves good flat noodles with braised innards, meat and bean curd. It is also a favourite gathering place for election campaigners.

Labis MP Chua Tee Yong walks into the restaurant and shakes hands with the customers. He is a recognised face and does not even need to tell them to vote for Barisan Nasional.

The boyish-looking politician is warmly greeted at every table except one – two young couples having their meals appear reluctant to return his greetings.

They could well be locals currently working outside Labis as they left in a car bearing number plates from the Federal Territory.

But the MCA Young Professionals Bureau chief sportingly shrugs it off, saying by now he can easily detect who would vote for him and who would not – as well as who were the fence-sitters.

The restaurant is located not far from the three-storey Labis MCA headquarters where Chua maintains a well-run service centre.

Labis is a parliamentary constituency where the majority of the voters have benefited from palm oil and rubber. It is the second largest town in the district of Segamat and is said to have received its name from the British who found many river terrapins in the area.

Many are smallholders, including the Chinese and Indians, who own their land – thanks to the distribution of land by the Johor state government.

At least 60% of the constituents are involved in commodities and their market prices would have a bearing at the voting centres.

“Look at my helpers for the elections, they are all very young. They are school-leavers and college kids,” Chua said, as if to remind this writer that not all the young would be supporting Pakatan Rakyat.

After all, cyber troopers and supporters are campaigning hard via Facebook and other social media platforms. Those who dare support Barisan have found themselves shouted down and in one case, threatened with rape and murder.

For sure, Chua’s campaigners appear spirited and eager, saying they personally called up every voter in the constituency.

In my brief visit and talk with some smallholders, one unexpected name kept cropping up. I would never have imagined that independent Australian senator for South Australia Nick Xenophon would be so well-known here.

Barisan has done a good job in reminding Labis voters that Xenophon – who has openly campaigned for Pakatan – is not a friend of Malaysian palm oil.

He advocated a Bill which would make labelling of palm oil content in food mandatory while the same is not demanded of other vegetable oils.

If the Bill had succeeded in becoming law, it would have adversely affected Malaysia as the world’s largest producer after Indo­nesia.

In short, the smallholders, who are pretty well-informed, see Xeno­­phon as someone who wants to da­­­mage Malaysia’s palm oil industry.

A 56-year-old palm oil cultivator, who spends a lot of his time at a coffeeshop, was angry with the Australian politician.

“Look around you. This is a peaceful constituency. Why is the opposition working with this man?” he asked, admitting to being a longtime Barisan supporter.

Another planter said he used his savings to “see the world” and that he considered himself “pretty well off” because of the palm oil earnings.

“When I retire, my children will take over the business. It’s hard work but they can hire foreigners. My only worry is paying foreigners minimum wages. It’s nonsensical.”

But it is not all smooth sailing for Chua. At the centre of Labis are rows of Chinese new village houses.

Many put up DAP flags in their compounds and in fact, their anti-establishment sentiments have been around even before the 2008 general election.

I saw a Chinese man – known to the small town as a contractor – driving around with a huge PAS flag. And at one car service shop, there were two vehicles plastered with DAP posters. One motorist even had a replica of a rocket on his car.

A local resident, who only wanted to be known as Ah Chye, said he would vote for DAP because he wanted a change in the government.

“I don’t care whether it is PAS or DAP or PKR. I will vote the opposition,” he said, admitting he came from the new village.

He said he was excited by the news of DAP leader Lim Kit Siang coming to Johor to contest the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat and hopes to see the “tsunami sweep through Johor.”

It is this sentiment, not just in Labis, but other Chinese-majority areas, that has put Barisan campaigners in a spot.

Said a Labis Umno official: “I find it hard to understand the Chinese. PAS has openly said it wants to impose its style of PAS hudud.

“Even the Malays are wary but some Chinese are openly welcoming PAS and flying their flags.”

In 2008, Chua – who succeeded his father Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek in the constituency – was the youngest Barisan candidate. He polled 13,658 votes against DAP’s Teo Eng Ching (9,564) to win by a majority of 4,094.

Labis looks like a win for Barisan but no one is taking anything lightly. Chua was earlier expected to face DAP’s ex-senator S. Ramakrishnan but it has not been confirmed.

Chua is now 39 years old and he has certainly grown up not only physically but also politically. When I walked into the Labis MCA building in 2008, Chua Senior was at the operations centre but this time, Chua Junior shows he is the man in command.

For more election stories, please visit The Star’s GE13 site

The real fight in Gelang Patah has not started but with an expected gigantic clash on the cards, life will never be the same again in this constituency.

IT’S 10.30pm on a Friday night at Jalan Penyiaran 46 in Taman Universiti, Skudai, about 5km from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia campus, and DAP leader Lim Kit Siang is holding court.

Unlike the usually predominantly Chinese areas he is more comfortable with, he has chosen this racially-mixed 30-year-old housing estate to campaign.

The owner of a kindergarten, the Taska Pasti Siswa Satu, has allowed its corner-lot premises to be used for the ceramah.

The front wall at the entrance of the kindergarten, presumably run by a PAS supporter, declares the premises to be a zon tutup aurat (Islamic dress code zone).

Years ago, no one would have imagined Lim speaking at a PAS-sponsored ceramah, let alone in the company of party leaders in serbans and flowing robes.

Still, the 300-plus crowd was overwhelmingly Chinese, with a handful of Malays while one could count the number of Indians in one hand.

The residents comprise mostly Malay families staying in single-storey houses and some of them declared their political allegiance by putting up Barisan Nasional flags and banners along the roads but Pakatan Rakyat is unfazed.

Even at 72, Lim has plenty of fire in his belly. His speeches are fiery and punchy, as was clearly demonstrated that Friday night.

Kicking off his speech, he led the crowd, in Mandarin, chanting continuously “that on May 5, the government will be changed”.

Then, he rapidly fired his ammunition against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for allegedly portraying him as a Chinese chauvinist who played a role in the May 13 racial clashes.

He drew his firepower from the yet-to-be publicly released movie Tanda Putera and Bahasa Malaysia newspaper Utusan Malaysia. He kept his admirers cheering with his trademark oratory, switching easily from Mandarin to Bahasa Malaysia.

Obviously, the continuous bombardment by Johor Umno that the DAP should not be allowed to enter the state, a fortress of Umno, has put the Rocket in a fighting mode, especially among the Malays. Others say it is in defensive mode.

While DAP has been able to gather massive Chinese crowds in Johor, Lim is still struggling to find Malay listeners. Even at Jalan Penyiaran, under the Gelang Patah constituency, the ones holding PAS flags were young Chinese listeners, who are presumably DAP loyalists first.

Some willingly gave donations when PAS activists passed plastic bags around while others curiously looked at the party paraphernalia on sale outside the kindergarten including stickers with a Manchester United emblem that has been changed to Muslimin United.

Just before Lim spoke, PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub brought up the same issue, declaring that Lim was not a racist but a national patriot.

“This is not about winning elections and getting positions and allowances but about changing the government,” the Kubang Kerian MP said, adding that if he wanted to keep his job, he would have defended his constituency in Kelantan.

The Johor-born politician said he had vo­­­lunteered to fight in this Johor Umno stronghold at great political risks, as the crowd clapped in approval.

Seeing the largely-Chinese crowd, he assured them that there would be no racial problems after the May 5 polls.

“I am also half Chinese. My mother is Chinese. My friends used to joke that if I failed in politics, I could be an actor in Hong Kong as I am more handsome than Jackie Chan,” he said.

Ironically, Salahuddin is also a beneficiary of MCA as he had studied at Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman.

As he ended his speech, parts of which were in English, a Chinese man, presumably planted by the organisers, stood up to pose a question.

Claiming to be a fence-sitter, he said he was concerned with talks of hudud laws, which was on the PAS agenda, as he had a family. He talked about the strict Islamic laws of having to find four witnesses if his wife or daughter was raped. He wanted to know if criminals would have their hands chopped off.

Salahuddin told him that the Chinese should be concerned with a safe environment to carry out their businesses, citing the “clean governments” of Kelantan, Penang, Kedah and Selangor under Pakatan.

He said it was time for communal-based political parties to go as Malaysians should no longer be divided into Malays, Chinese and Indians.

The Islamist party, he vowed, would protect the Chinese if there were riots, giving an assurance that they should have no fear.

“Let us win Putrajaya first. There are many things to do, we can talk about that (Islamic state) later,” he said, without committing himself or the party to the question.

Another speaker was Dr Boo Cheng Hau, the Johor DAP chief who has been in the news for clashing with his Johor PKR counterpart Datuk Chua Jui Meng. His command of Bahasa Malaysia has improved tremendously but his speech fell flat and he could not command the attention of the crowd like the two veterans.

By the time I left the area, it was near midnight. I had trouble finding my way around to head towards Johor Baru, even with the GPS.

I stopped to ask for directions from two Indian women, who were walking by. A little wary at first to see two men in a car stopping abruptly, they seemed assured after talking to us.

When they asked what we were doing in the area at the time, I said we had just finished listening to a Pakatan Rakyat ceramah. Taking the opportunity, I asked how they would vote in the general election. One said she was not a registered voter while the other said she would vote for Barisan.

I would have wished to listen to her more but there is still time, as I continue to be on the road to listen to the ground.

The real fight in Gelang Patah has not started but with an expected Lim Kit Siang-Datuk Ghani Othman clash on the cards, life will never be the same again in this constituency.

IT’S incredible how some of our politicians can say the most amusing and ridiculous things with a straight face.

Surely there must be plenty of self-restraint, or a total belief in oneself, for them to be able to deliver the most outrageous statements without breaking into laughter themselves.

The most laughable remark in recent days must be that of former MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu who announced that he was a winnable candidate for his former Sungai Siput parliamentary seat. In fact, he even used the words “without a doubt” to emphasise his winnability status.

With due respect, I think I can safely say that half of Malaysia would prefer that the 77-year-old retired politician continues in his present role as the country’s special envoy to India and South Asia for infrastructure.

And then there was Datuk Chua Jui Meng, who’s entering the fray in this general election, reportedly declaring himself as “young” too.

The 69-year-old former Cabinet Minister used to sing praises of the Barisan Nasional but after losing a series of party elections, he decided to change his party uniform, sing a different tune, and has now become the Johor PKR chief.

Obviously, the DAP grassroots in Johor, who used to cross swords with Chua, have not forgiven him and thus would find it difficult to campaign for him, even if the order came from the national Pakatan Rakyat leadership.

This is the irony. This general election will see over two million new voters, mostly young ones, who could end up voting in the oldest politicians.

Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, for example, is already 82 years old but still regards himself as indispensable. He is for sure a winnable candidate as he still retains his popularity but it must be pretty comical when he calls for changes in the federal government and political landscape when nothing has changed in Kelantan politics.

He too deserves a special mention for his remarks that Muslims who vote for DAP will get divine merit or pahala as DAP has accepted Islam. I wouldn’t want to comment on a religious matter but, seriously, this one sounds more political than religious.

In DAP, Lim Kit Siang is 72 while Karpal Singh is 73. They have been in politics before many of us were born and they are still around. Yes, the two are calling for change, too.

Old-timers also exist in the Barisan Nasional. Datuk Seri Rais Yatim is 71 while Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcob is 66. They are good in their jobs, although some may disagree, but, seriously, they should consider moving on with their lives. Life is short. They shouldn’t waste their twilight years in government and in party politics. They should use their precious time to spend with their loved ones.

The proposal to give each political party 10 minutes to talk about their manifestos also had many Malaysians laughing. A clarification was then made to say it was actually 10 minutes each session in a series of programmes.

We are not sure whose brilliant idea it was but – you guessed right – there were no takers. I am sure even the Barisan component parties are not keen to take up this 10-minute slot.

Then there is Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is already 66 years old but still harbours hopes of wanting to become the next prime minister of Malaysia.

It is probably his last shot and if it doesn’t happen, then this is the end of his political career. But we have to admit that Anwar looks younger and more dashing, unlike Samy or Kit or Karpal.

He looks and acts younger, really. He can say he is “young” and half of Malaysians will believe him. In fact, he can say anything and half of the country will be convinced. And he can also deny anything, and many will stand by his denials.

That’s how powerful he is. Last week, he made another comical remark – he vowed that if he became the Prime Minister, he would “end cronyism”.

Now, that’s funny for many of us older Malaysians who have been around long enough and followed the country’s political and economic developments – that means Malaysians who are 50 years old and above.

The Election Commission has fixed 15 days for campaigning and we can be sure we will be treated to many happy and surely outrageously funny remarks in this period. After all, they are very much the hallmark of Malaysian politics.

After all the brouhaha to get Malaysians living abroad the right to vote, only a dismal 6,268 out of over 700,000 have registered as postal voters.

IT’S disappointing, especially after all the brouhaha over giving all Malaysians living abroad the right to vote.

It has now been reported that only a dismal 6,268 Malaysians out of over 700,000 living abroad have registered as postal voters. There are some who think there could be as many as a million Malaysians abroad.

The Elections Commission (EC) had estimated that there would be at least 100,000 or even 200,000 overseas Malaysians who would register.

The criteria are fairly simple – they have to be registered as voters first and have been in Malaysia not less than 30 days in the last five years before the dissolution of Parliament.

Objectively, no one can say that not enough time has been given. The worst excuse I have heard is that the Elections Commission website broke down last week and this made many who are overseas unable to register as postal voters.

This was reported in the pro-opposition Malaysiakini news portal. Surely, if you are seriously concerned with the developments in this country, you would have taken the trouble to register yourself much earlier.

It does not matter if you are overseas or in Malaysia. If one feels so strongly about what is taking place in Malaysia and wants to change the government, the obvious thing would be to ensure the change takes place via the ballot box.

Since the 2008 general election, it has been a long drawn campaign by both sides. Never has political awareness been so high.

That probably explains why there are 2.9 million new voters – all first-timers and mostly below 40 years old – out of the country’s 13 million electorate. That’s one out of five voters taking part in this general election.

It does not matter whether these new voters want to throw out this government or keep the status quo. The most important point is that they believe they can make a difference. They believe passionately that talk is cheap and that they will let their votes do the walking.

The call to allow overseas Malaysians to vote was on the agenda of Bersih, and two platforms – MyOverseasVote and Bersih Global – were set up to facilitate overseas Malaysians to register as postal voters.

Early this year, the EC announced that Malaysians residing overseas, except in Singapore, southern Thailand, Kalimantan and Brunei, would be allowed to apply to vote by post provided that they have been in Malaysia for at least 30 days in total during the last five years.

We have heard the arguments before – there are those who claim that those who have been abroad too long do not understand what is taking place in Malaysia while many overseas Malaysians have ridiculed such arguments, saying that they follow events back home closely via the Internet.

Others suggest that the large number of overseas Malaysians are mostly non-Malays who are critical of Barisan Nasional and are likely to vote for the opposition.

They include many who have migrated because of their unhappiness over the affirmative action programmes that favour the bumiputras.

This argument does not hold water because the reality is that even if Pakatan Rakyat wins, the same affirmative actions will continue. Not even the DAP has dared to ask for these special rights to be removed.

While we do not know if the low number of overseas Malaysians registered to vote as postal voters is due to their indifference or because they still find the procedure cumbersome, the EC must continue to improve its mechanism to ensure a bigger turnout.

The reality is that more and more Malaysians, especially the young, will work overseas because travelling has now become cheaper, faster and easier.

Many Malaysians work in Jakarta, Hong Kong, Beijing, Guangzhou or Bangkok while they keep their Malaysian permanent address.

Many companies have also become more global in their set-up and send talented Malaysians to work in their regional hubs.

Unlike the older Malaysians who packed off with their families for a new life abroad, most young Malaysians are often single and live jet-setting lives.

They are not necessarily the grumbling and whining types who run down Malaysia. They may enjoy life overseas but deep in their hearts, they miss the many good things in this country.

These younger and more mobile Malay­sians keep their minds open and while they are critical, they also make better evalua­tion of the issues.

This will be the new overseas Malaysians in the coming years. Make it easier for them to cast their votes in the coming general elections.

■ For more election stories, please visit The Star’s GE13 site

Almost the same people have been running our FAM all these years, with little results to show. In fact, our position has worsened.

On the FIFA world rankings, Malaysia is ranked 164 out of 209 countries. Even Maldives, Bangladesh, Hong Kong and two other countries which I can’t even locate on the map – Tajiskistan and Faroe Islands – rank higher than us.

More painful, Singapore is ranked 162 and that’s a tiny country with hardly enough fields for the kids to play football.

It’s a disgrace really. Even that is an understatement. Malaysia is so short of football heroes that we have to keep reminding ourselves of the greatness of Soh Chin Aun, Mokhtar Dahari and Santokh Singh, with RTM having to pathetically repeat those grainy black-and-white visuals of these heroes playing.

Half of the people in Malaysia were not even born when these football legends were in their prime. So our kids simply have no connection with them.

We cannot live in the past but, unfortunately, we are not producing enough good players today, let alone heroes. We may have some good ones but none of them are outstanding.

Malaysians have a hard time remembering the names of our national players. When there is nothing to shout about, we just don’t bother. That’s a fact.

It’s like Arsenal, of which I am a big fan. I am still trying to memorise the names of the present Gunners.

Why blame the Gooners, as we diehard fans are called, as these new players are shooting blanks in the club’s worst season ever. None of the Gunners, except maybe for Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere, is worthy of mention. That, painful as it may sound, is almost identical to the problems affecting the national team.

At least in the English Premier League, we have heard of football managers getting sacked and even chief executive officers of these football clubs, some of which are listed on the stock exchange, getting the boot. But the FAM line-up is practically invincible.

Nobody wants to leave the FAM nor take responsibility for the fiasco in Malaysian football, presumably because the perks are too good to give up.

There is a clear lack of fresh input to spark the fire to give Malaysian football a fresh start. In modern social media terms, FAM needs a re-boot.

But few dare to criticise the FAM leadership because of the powerful figures involved. Those directly in the game, players or officials, do not want to earn the wrath of these well-connected figures, who can make lives miserable for those who dare to speak up.

Clinging on to their posts, it would seem to most Malaysians that they have now become more dictatorial. Even the slightest criticism, which would hardly raise the eyebrows of most Malaysians, can lead to harsh punishment.

The latest to feel the heat is national coach Datuk K. Rajagopal, who is being hauled up under Article 88 of the FAM statutes. The coach’s comment on the lack of local strikers in the M-League was construed as a criticism of the national league. So what if it is a criticism of the national league? And since when has it become a crime to criticise the horrific affairs of the FAM?

Rajagopal was said to have made the comment at a post-game match press conference after the national team suffered a 4-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in a friendly at the Shah Alam Stadium on March 17.

The controversy has become even more interesting with FAM general secretary Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad now saying it could be part of a conspiracy to kick Rajagopal out.

He was quoted as saying that Rajagopal’s statement was published in the media and, under the regulations, the disciplinary committee has to investigate and decide, saying the “FAM practises transparency and that is why we decided to proceed with the charge against Rajagopal”.

But many Malaysian football fans are going to laugh when FAM talks about transparency and accountability.

We all feel passionate about football because it is one game that brings all of us together in a nation that is badly divided politically.

If only our FAM officials spend as much time putting their energy and resources together to revive our Malaysian team instead of looking through the newspapers daily, worrying over statements made by officials.

Stop kicking Rajagopal and the Malaysian fans around. We have had enough of the gross incompetence of the FAM.