Monday, July 14, 2008

Roadblocks set up amid protest fears

I have already offered my views on today's proposed "no-confidence" motion at this blog entry. So, the Malaysiakini report Roadblocks set up amid protest fears raises interesting questions about the psychological war that the BN government is initiating by the alarmist tactic of roadblocks and court orders.
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The BN/govt security team appears to have learnt from the tactical playbook so successfully used against Protes 2008 where the protesters were successfully herded and corralled into a stadium instead of an open area. Threats of police action were also made then. This time around, we can see the level of sophistication increase with the added legitimacy of a court order. This is what is meant by the phrase when giants learn to dance, I guess.
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The "no-confdence" vote
As for the "no-confidence" vote itself, in lieu of quoting myself ad nauseam I offer an extract from Malaysiakini reporting that, "Two rebel lawmakers from Abdullah's ruling BN coalition have vowed to back the opposition debate. Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) parliamentarians Eric Enchin Majimbun and Chua Soon Bui have pledged their vote for an opposition motion of no-confidence against Abdullah."
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I also want to highlight the Malaysian Insider's analysis which starts with the tantalising question, "Will there be a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister today? That depends on the Dewan Rakyat Speaker. Will the rebel Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) have its two lawmakers there to support such a motion? That depends on the duo after their anti-climatic no-show the first time around on June 24. But if both do happen, notwithstanding it’s a motion that does not call for a vote, can SAPP's move force Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's hand to whittle his Barisan Nasional coalition to his favourite number – 13? 
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It's a tough call because BN leaders know SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee wants his tiny Chinese-based party to be kicked out of the coalition instead of quitting, in an effort to underscore his assertion that Sabahans are treated badly and their grouses summarily dismissed in far-off Putrajaya. That appears to be the former Sabah chief minister's end-game. He won't quit BN but wants Abdullah to do so and if the embattled prime minister won't go, then BN must kick out the rebel party and turn it into instant heroes.-

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i wonder if minister tell us that they receive info about the demo from blogs... where as on other hand before they say dont believe in blogs... COnFuseD

de minimis said...

You are right. The govt owes an explanation to the public about how real the threat of public disorder was. So much business time was lost today because of the roadblocks. How serious was the threat? Syed Hamid owes us an explanation instead of a feeble apology.