Getting to know Barisan Nasional

Sometimes, I was asked by friends at breakfast, questions like:

How many seats did MCA/MIC/Gerakan get in GE13?
Did MCA/MIC/Gerakan win in ____ (name of state) in GE13?

Hello? You think I'm a walking wikipedia on Malaysian politics?

30 years ago, when my memory was still sharp, I could have remembered most of the information gleaned from newspapers or other reports. But now, I cannot even remember song lyrics, let alone which party wins what.

I wish getting facts from newspapers could be more straightforward. I found mistakes in many of the reports, which required further searching for information.

I had been using an old copy of The Sun dated May 7, as a source of information. Believe me, though it was a good guide, the information was incomplete, even though it was published two days after May 5 (date of GE13).  For eg., results for P 170 and P175 were unknown at time of printing. So you can imagine my frustration, when faced with unknown facts.

As for Googling for information, on the one hand I am often impressed with the ease at getting information by keying in the right words, but on the other hand, if you tried getting information for Malaysian results, you are likely to be disappointed.

For my own reference as well as for others in search of similar information, I have included links to Malaysia Today which provide results for GE 13, according to parliamentary and state seats, state by state. But try looking for details of results by BN component parties, and you need to look elsewhere.

I had just visited BN's website, but this information is not readily available or could even be unavailable. I had to resort to Wikipedia and other sources instead.

I don't know about others, but I am blur as far as BN component parties in Sabah and Sarawak are concerned.

For my own future reference, I am pleased to gather the following information:

West Malaysia:
Umno 74, MCA 7, MIC 4 and Gerakan 1 (total 86);

East Malaysia:
Sarawak: PBB 14, PRS 6, SPDP 4, and SUPP 1 (total 25);
Sabah: Umno 14, PBS 4, Upko 3, and PBRS 1 (total 22);

Total for BN: 133 parliamentary seats out of a total of 222.

Sarawak state was excluded from GE 13 because it had its state elections in 2011.
Umno is not involved in Sarawak politics, but its anchor coalition partner PBB is in firm control.
Under BN, PBB has 35, PRS 8, SPDP 6 and SUPP 6 (total 55 seats, out of a total of 71).
The remaining 16 comprise DAP 12, PKR 3 and Independent 1.

Excluding Sarawak, BN won 275 out of 505 state seats. Including Sarawak, BN won 330 out of 576 state seats.

For 57% of total seats, BN is in control of 10 out of 13 state seats! This excludes the biggest anamoly of all: FT Kuala Lumpur!  - where despite winning only 2 out of 11 parliamentary seats, BN through FT Ministry, is also in control.

To familiar myself with BN component parties, particularly those in Sarawak and Sabah:

West Malaysia:
United Malays National Organization (UMNO)
Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA)
Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)
Malaysian People's Movement Party (GERAKAN)
People's Progressive Party (PPP)
Sarawak:
Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB)
Sarawak People's Party (PRS)
Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP)
Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP)
Sabah:
UMNO
Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS)
Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS)
United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO)
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Looking at the results of GE13, former significant partners of Alliance, then Barisan Nasional, like MCA, MIC and Gerakan, have lost their former glories and significance. They are becoming irrelevant.

Umno has to rely increasingly on PBB in Sarawak and to a lesser extent, PBS, PBRS and UPKO in Sabah, to have majority in Parliament. Umno had done its dubious groundwork in Sabah over the years and its presence there outshadows PBS!

Recently, an Umno politician boasted about his party's 88 parliamentary seats by itself, as compared with Pakatan Rakyat's total of 89! Of course, if he wants to rest on his laurels and disregard his party-led coalition's 47% popular votes (yet won 133 seats), as compared with PR's 51%, then he can bask in his own glory while he still can. - KoSong