2008 Penang state election
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40 seats to the Penang State Legislative Assembly 21 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Registered | 709,323 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 542,856 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 12th Penang election was held on 8 March 2008. Polling took place in 40 constituencies throughout the State of Penang, with each electing a State Assemblyman to the Penang State Legislative Assembly. The election was conducted by the Malaysian Election Commission.
The legislative body had been dissolved on 13 February by the
The election proved to be a watershed in Penang's history, as the BN was handed an unprecedented and shocking defeat by the PR, making the election the second time Penang's ruling party was voted out of power; the first was in 1969.[3] The PR won 29 out of the 40 seats, gaining more than a two-thirds majority in the Penang State Legislative Assembly. The leader of the PR in Penang, Lim Guan Eng, was subsequently sworn into power as Penang's fourth Chief Minister on 11 March.
Background
The election was the 12th state election in the State of Penang since the independence of Malaya (now Malaysia) in 1957. The governing Barisan Nasional (BN) sought to secure their ninth consecutive term in office since 1974.
According to the
, to dissolve the Assembly before the five-year period is up.On 13 February 2008, the Governor of Penang, Abdul Rahman Abbas, gave his consent to the incumbent Chief Minister of Penang, Koh Tsu Koon, to dissolve the Assembly; the dissolution of the Assembly was conducted simultaneously with the dissolution of the Malaysian Parliament.[1]
A state election must be held within sixty days after the dissolution. Accordingly, the Malaysian Election Commission set 24 February as the nomination day and 8 March as the polling day, providing for a campaigning period of 13 days.[5]
Political parties
The Barisan Nasional (BN), the ruling coalition in Penang at the time, had been in power since 1955, although BN rule was briefly interrupted after the 1969 election when Gerakan, then an opposition party, seized power in the state; Gerakan subsequently joined the BN in 1973.
Prior to the election, BN, which was led by the incumbent
Coalition | |
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Incumbent | Opposition |
Barisan Nasional (BN) | Pakatan Rakyat |
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|
Electoral divisions
All 40 state constituencies within Penang, which constitute the Penang State Legislative Assembly, were contested during the election.
Penaga Bertam Telok Ayer Tawar Permatang Berangan Sungai Puyu Berapit Machang Bubok Malacca Strait Malacca Strait |
The state constituencies of DAP-controlled seats -controlled seats
|
Issues
Decline of Penang
In the preceding years, concerns had been raised over the perceived decline and neglect of Penang. Among the factors were the deteriorating cleanliness in George Town, incoherent urban planning, poor traffic management, the state's economic slowdown and persistent brain drain.[7][8][9][10]
By the early 2000s, Penang's economic growth began to lose steam, with the city-state recording the lowest monthly household income growth rate amongst the Malaysian states.[7] Also in 2001, the Rent Control Act, which until then had protected the low-income residents within the George Town city centre from eviction by preventing any arbitrary hike in rents, was repealed.[11][12] Consequently, the city centre was hollowed out, as residents and smaller businesses were unable to cope with the rental hikes. This led to the dilapidation of heritage buildings within the city centre, whilst private developers began demolishing pre-war buildings in the name of redevelopment. In addition, the decades of brain drain took its toll, as Penang suffered a shortage of professionals, who generally preferred to move to the Greater Kuala Lumpur area for business and employment opportunities.[10][13] Poor urban planning and traffic management caused worsening traffic congestion, whilst George Town's garbage-strewn streets led to Penang being labelled a "garbage state" by Barisan Nasional (BN) politicians.[8][9][14]
Widespread discontent over Penang's decline led to campaigns by Penang-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the national media to return the city-state to its former glory.[8][11][15][16][17][18]
Political infighting in Barisan Nasional
Prior to the election,
The internal infighting, exacerbated by Koh's indecisiveness, adversely affected BN's campaign in Penang, as the coalition was unable to publicly declare its Chief Minister-designate.[22] In addition, Koh's decision to run for a higher position in the Malaysian federal government was widely scorned; Penangites perceived Koh's party, Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, as being more interested in promoting its political ambitions in the national level instead of seeing to its constituents' needs.[19]
Corruption and maladministration
Allegations of corrupt practices by the
The BN administration was also condemned by Penang-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for steamrolling the Penang Global City Centre project, which was the brainchild of Partick Lim, a tycoon who maintained close ties with the then Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.[22] Despite opposition by the NGOs, the BN administration proceeded with the project by bypassing the Penang Island Municipal Council (now Penang Island City Council), thus eliminating any need for approval from the local government.[19] The issue strengthened the perception that Chief Minister Koh, who led Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan), displayed utmost deference to the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the dominant party within the BN coalition.[22]
BN's maladministration extended to Penang's two local governments - the Penang Island Municipal Council and the
Campaign
The Barisan Nasional (BN) administration in Penang, plagued by various crises, sought to appeal to the clamour of change by employing the slogan "keep reinventing".[22] Even so, the BN had the advantage of incumbency and the backing of the UMNO-led Malaysian federal government. By contrast, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition, which lacked the resources available to its opponent, launched its theme "just change it", heralding a more aggressive campaign to overthrow the BN-controlled state government.
Social media
Due to
Owing to the increasing use of mobile phones, the short messaging service (SMS) was also put to use to disseminate information regarding PR rallies during the campaigning period.[22] In addition, voters could register their phone numbers at DAP offices to receive campaign information via SMS.
Rallies
Both political coalitions held rallies, known in Malay as ceramah, throughout the state during the campaigning period just prior to the polling day. Pakatan Rakyat (PR) rallies, in particular, drew massive turnouts and generated a sizeable sum of donations. By contrast, Barisan Nasional (BN) rallies attracted very few attendees, so much so that some were reportedly cancelled due to the sheer lack of audience.[22]
On 1 March 2008, a PR rally was held at the
Results
Party or alliance | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party | 33,818 | 6.23 | 1 | 0 | |||
Total | 319,757 | 58.90 | 29 | +27 | |||
Barisan Nasional | United Malays National Organisation | 93,923 | 17.30 | 11 | –3 | ||
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia | 71,255 | 13.13 | 0 | –13 | |||
Malaysian Chinese Association | 50,123 | 9.23 | 0 | –9 | |||
Malaysian Indian Congress | 7,038 | 1.30 | 0 | –2 | |||
Total | 222,339 | 40.96 | 11 | –27 | |||
Independents | 760 | 0.14 | 0 | 0 | |||
Total | 542,856 | 100.00 | 40 | 0 | |||
Valid votes | 542,856 | 98.39 | |||||
Invalid/blank votes | 8,887 | 1.61 | |||||
Total votes | 551,743 | 100.00 | |||||
Registered voters/turnout | 709,323 | 77.78 | |||||
Source: The Star |
The polling on 8 March 2008 was closed by 5.00 p.m.
The outgoing
At 12.30 a.m. on 9 March, the top leaders of the PR, led by
The election marked the second time the incumbent Penang state government was voted out of power; the first was in 1969.[3] For the first time ever, BN's component parties, Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), lost all their state constituencies and were wiped out of Penang's political scene altogether. The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), BN's dominant party, became the sole BN party remaining in Penang, securing 11 seats; UMNO thus formed the opposition within the state. Meanwhile, the PR swept 29 out of the 40 seats that form the Penang State Legislative Assembly, winning more than a two-thirds majority in the legislature.
Aftermath
The elected
Chief Minister Lim's first task in office was to waive all summonses and parking tickets issued by both the Penang Island Municipal Council and the
In addition, one of the major initiatives of the new PR-led Penang state government was to abolish the controversial New Economic Policy, which had been implemented throughout Malaysia by the Barisan Nasional since 1971.[19][39] The decision, which was aimed at refocusing the state government's efforts towards eradicating poverty regardless of ethnicity, was agreed upon by the People's Justice Party (PKR), with the party's leader, Anwar Ibrahim, pledging to "stop this practice of awarding tenders, projects and privatisation to family-related companies and cronies only at states where we are in charge".[39] BN extremists, particularly those from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), subsequently held a protest outside Komtar on 14 March.[40][41]
Following the drastic change in Malaysia's political landscape, Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore, visited Penang and met Chief Minister Lim on 13 June 2009.[42] During the visit, Lee remarked on Penang's poorly-maintained infrastructure at the time and opined that one term was inadequate for Chief Minister Lim to implement the necessary changes within Penang.[43]
See also
- Constituencies of Penang
- Elections in Penang
References
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- ^ a b c "Guan Eng sworn in as Penang CM". www.thesundaily.my. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
- ^ "Constitution of the State of Penang" (PDF). Penang State Legislative Assembly.
- ^ "GE13: Just when will nomination and polling be? - Community | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
- ^ "Guan Eng to lead DAP charge in Penang". www.thesundaily.my. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
- ^ ISBN 9789814279697.
- ^ a b c "Tsunami impact in Penang, Malaysia: Our island, our world". aliran.com. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- ^ a b "Akta Warisan akan diperkenal". Utusan Online. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9783825813666.
- ^ a b Daniel Goh, P. S. (2014). "Between History and Heritage: Post-Colonialism, Globalisation, and the Remaking of Malacca, Penang and Singapore" (PDF). Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia. 2.
- ^ "Asia Times: Wreckers ball rips heart out of city: Car Rentals at www.The-Car-Reservations-Desk.com". Archived from the original on 12 April 2001. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
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- ^ Lilian Chan (22 January 2015). "Garbage dump to shining city". Buletin Mutiara. George Town.
- ^ Ng, Su-Ann (7 November 2004). "Penang losing its tourism lustre". The Star.
- ^ Habibu, Sira (7 December 2004). "CM: Work hard to bring lustre back to Penang". The Star.
- ^ "Penang - who should stop the rot?". Malaysiakini. 16 December 2004. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- ^ Wong, Chun Wai (12 December 2004). "Act fast to boost island's sagging image". Wong Chun Wai. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9789814345088.
- ^ "BN faces uphill battle in Penang". Free Malaysia Today. 12 June 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2018.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c d e "8 March 2008: The winds of change - Liew Chin Tong". Liew Chin Tong. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
- ^ ISBN 9789812308962.
- ^ "CM: Penang striving to reduce MPSP's budget deficit - Nation | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Balanced budget for MPPP by 2009". www.thesundaily.my. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Penang govt lends a hand to cash-strapped MPSP". The Edge Markets. 28 January 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ Goh, Ban Lee (June 2010). "Butterworth remains the Ugly Duckling". Penang Monthly. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
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- ^ Gomez, James. "Malaysia's 13th General Election: Social Media and its Political Impact" (PDF).
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(help) - ^ "Anwar, Guan Eng join hands to rock Penang - anilnetto.com". anilnetto.com. 1 March 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ a b "Top DAP Election Ceramah Donations". Lim Kit Siang. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ "Massive 60,000-strong rally in Penang raises Opposition hopes - anilnetto.com". anilnetto.com. 6 March 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ "The swing that caught everyone by surprise - Nation | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ a b "Barisan reels from worst-ever election performance - Nation | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ a b KiniTV (9 March 2008), Confirmed: Guan Eng is the new Penang CM, retrieved 1 May 2018
- ^ ISBN 9789839820614.
- ^ "Guan Eng to be Penang CM - Nation | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ a b c "Guan Eng takes your questions - Nation | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ "Guan Eng: Open tenders key to Penang's efficiency". The Edge Markets. 12 December 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ a b Koswanage, Niluksi. "Malaysia opposition takes aim at affirmative action". U.S. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ "1,000 join pro-NEP protest in Penang - anilnetto.com". anilnetto.com. 14 March 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ "Affirmative action in Malaysia". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
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- ^ "More than nostalgia behind Kuan Yew's visit". www.thesundaily.my. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.