50-50 whether next general
election will be held this year or next year ________________
Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang
___________________
(Parliament,
Monday):
With Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi celebrating his fourth anniversary as the fifth Prime Minister in
two days’ time, which also marks more than 3 years and 7 months after his
unprecedented landslide victory in the 2004 general election, the question
everyone is asking is the date for the next general election.
There are three possibilities for the 12th general election in Malaysia:
1. This year, with November 25
as the “hottest” date, with Abdullah in this scenario announcing
dissolution of Parliament at the end of the UMNO General Assembly on Nov.
9;
2. Before end of next April with the “hottest date” in mid-March, 2008
before Anwar Ibrahim regains his civil liberties to stand for elective
office; and
3. After April next year as there appears to be growing support in UMNO
for the school of thought that the next general election should “exorcise”
the Anwar factor and not allow it to haunt UMNO after the next general
election on the ground that the election outcome would have been very
different if Anwar had been allowed to contest – and based on the
confidence that Umno is enjoying a very favorable political climate in the
Malay heartland and the UMNO constituencies.
If the 12th general election is
to be held by the end of this year, the current parliamentary debate on
the 2008 budget would have to be sacrificed – which would be most improper
and high-handed as there could be no justification for abruptly ending the
current parliamentary budget meeting, with all the debates on the 2008
budget since September rendered null and void, as the country is not
facing any constitutional crisis where the government is facing a sudden
loss of majority support in Parliament.
But there had been such an arbitrary precedent in the 1999 general
election and the question is whether Abdullah wants to emulate his
predecessor in such contemptible disregard for constitutional proprieties.
Many factors, particularly political and economic such as the global
economic environment, will decide the date for the next general election.
I rate it as 50-50 whether the next general election will be held this
year or next year.
(29/10/2007)
* Lim
Kit Siang, Parliamentary
Opposition Leader, MP for Ipoh Timur & DAP Central Policy and Strategic
Planning Commission Chairman |