After months of uncertainty of whether the government will announced that the general elections will be held before the one due in mid 2009,Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has finally announced that he would dissolve the parliament as of today to allow the elections to be held,ending months of speculation.Many people has expected that today would be the day he would announce it because it is the 13th of February,and he said it himself that 13 is his lucky number,so whether it will turn out to be lucky for him again,we just have to wait and see.
He actually said on the previous day that there would not be a dissolution today but of course,sometimes you cant trust everything that politicians say.However,Mr Abdullah doesnt expect a repeat of the 2004 landslide when the Barisan Nasional coalition (BN) seized some 90 percent of parliamentary seats and I think its obvious to see why.The situation in the country then and the situation now has a very vast difference.Things were much stable and calm back then but now,the tension among the people are much higher.The minority group in the country such as the Indians are complaining about them being discriminated,I think you could remember well the scene of protest from them late last year and many fear of rising inflation and crime rate in the country.Mr Abdullah said the Election Commission would decide on the polling date but voting must be held 60 days after parliament is dissolved.The government traditionally allows just a two-week campaign period,which would mean the ballot in early March.
I certainly cant wait to see what will happen next.Like Mr Abdullah has said,I dont expect his party to win big again this time round performance amid growing unease among ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.A lot of unwanted things have happen over the years,and his popularity level has also dropped to a low of 60 percent,which I heard is the lowest rating he has ever got.60 percent might seem like a lot to you,but in Malaysia,it is considered to be very low interestingly.When he took over from PM Mahathir,I think expectations was very high on him,but I believe many Malaysians think that he hasnt deliver the goods I dont know because I dont follow Malaysia politics very much even though we are neighbour,but that is just the general feeling Im getting.Nevertheless,I think he has not done that bad,I think he is OK,but I believe he needs to do a lot of convincing to gain back the support from the people.Its going to be interesting to see what will happen in the next few weeks now.
*The report was taken from ChannelNewsAsia.
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