POST- ELECTION GE-13

1)         What does society means?

Section 2 Societies Act:-

“Society” includes any club, company, partnership, or association of seven or more persons whatever its nature or object, whether temporary or permanent, but does not include –

(a) any company registered under the provisions of any written law relating to companies for the time being in force in Malaysia;

(b) any company or association constituted under any written law;

(c) any trade union registered or required to be registered under the provisions of any written law relating to trade unions for the time being in force in Malaysia;

(d) any company, association or partnership formed for the sole purpose of carrying on any lawful business that has for its object the acquisition of gain by the company,

association or partnership, or by the individual members thereof;

(e) any co-operative society, registered as such, under any written law;

(f) any organization or association in respect of which there is for the time being in force a certificate (which may be granted, refused or cancelled at his discretion) by a person

2)         What does Registered Society means?

Section 2 Societies Act:-

“registered society” means any society for the time being registered under section 7;

3)         What does Politcal Party means?

Section 2 Societies Act:-

“political party” means—

(a) any society which by any of its objects or rules, regardless whether such object or rule is its principal object or rule,or constitutes merely an object or rule which is ancillary to its principal object or objects or to its principal rule or rules, makes provision for the society to participate,through its candidates, in elections to the Dewan Rakyat,or to a Dewan Undangan Negeri, or to a local authority,or makes provision for it to seek the appointment or election of a person proposed or supported by it to the Dewan Negara; or

(b) any society which, notwithstanding anything contained in its objects or rules, carries on any activity or pursues any objective which involves its participation, through its candidates, in elections to the Dewan Rakyat, or to a Dewan Undangan Negeri, or to a local authority, or which involves its seeking the appointment or election of a person proposed or supported by it to the Dewan Negara;

Based on the results of the recent General Election (GE-13), the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance is claiming that they have won the GE-13 based on the reason that PR obtained 51.4% of popular votes compared to Barisan Nasional’s 48.6% of popular votes. Therefore PR concludes that they won the mandate.

The sections stated above clearly shows that for a political party to be recognized as a society, first it must be registered, as in accordance to the Societies Act 1966. However, DAP, PKR and PAS are not registered as one coalition. Therefore the PR alliance could be considered as an illegal society.

Below are the statistics for the PR alliance as shown below:-

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) garnered 5,623,984 votes and won 89 seats out of 222 seats.

            -PKR 2,254,328 votes (40%) which amounts to 30 seats; that is (34%)

            -DAP 1,736,267 votes (31%) which amounts to 38 seats; that is (43%)

            -PAS 1,633,389 votes (29%) which amounts to 21 seats; that is (23%)

Unlike Barisan Nasional, it is the biggest coalition political party in Malaysia, in which UMNO, MIC, MCA, PPP, Gerakan etc. are registered under one party that is Barisan Nasional. They have a common leader and a common constitution.

The so-called Pakatan Rakyat could not claim the mandate as they are not registered under one coalition and thus the mandate are still with Barisan Nasional. PR could not based their arguments on the 51.4% popular votes as the total number of votes that they have won. In a democratic society such as Malaysia itself, the number of seats for Parliament in which Barisan Nasional had won should be the threshold as to who holds the mandate.

The 51.4% popular votes that PR alliance claimed to be their winning votes are the number of votes and not the number of seats won for the GE-13 The popular votes are calculated based on the majority votes in certain constituency in which the PR alliance had won. In most presidential elections such as United States of America, a candidate who wins the popular vote will receive the majority of the electoral votes. It is different here in Malaysia where the Parliament formed its government based on the seats won by the parties in the GE-13, that is Barisan Nasional, who had won 133 seats in the Parliament itself. Members are elected from single-member constituencies drawn based on population using the first past the post system. The party that has the majority of the House of Representatives will form the Federal Government. Therefore Barisan Nasional is still the rightful party to hold the mandate.