Ground Report

A Taste of Their Own Medicine Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia: Pakatan Rakyat [orPR] which is a loose coalition of three main parties in the Opposition Camp here in Malaysia found out that being rewarded with power is no fun. The members of the coalition of which are PKR[Parti Keadilan Rakyat], DAP [democratic Action Party and PAS[Parti Islam Malaysia] can no longer boast or threaten to usurp power from the ruling National Front or BN. Under the tutelage of Former Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, the PR gained considerable number of seats in the twelfth General Election of 2008. They also managed to controll five states albeit one with a wafer thin majority. The states are Selangor,Kedah,Penang,Kelantan and Perak. Several months later they[PR] lost Perak state when three of their supporters jumped ship, and pledge their support for the Natioan Front or BN. For the rest of the year 2008 they taunted the ruling BN in Parliament and in the various courts. They were literally throwing everything at the ruling BN. There were allegations, accusations, smear campaigns and even the Sultan of Perak who is the former Lord Justice of Malaysia is not spared. However, in the states that they ruled the stories were starkly different. There were problems in the state of Selangor, even among their very own councilors. The state of Kedah also suffered the same fate, resulting in one of their elected representative withdrawing his support and declaring himself an independent. The state government of Penang also suffered the same fate. To make matters worse, the problems kept on piling day by day. Now, the same people who voted them into power unashamedly regretted having done so. So loud is the clamor for change that they themselves are already predicting a snap election. However, the Prime Minister, Najib Razak, is not taking things lightly. He is wise enough to recognize that those cries of regret are fickle. They may change with the wind. Right now he is more interested in developing the country and transforming it into a develop nation before the year 2020.