Some ‘Silent Protest’ in Malaysian Malls after Disputed Election

BEIJING â€" After the Malaysian opposition parties failed to win in Sunday’s election, some Malaysians staged “silent protests” in the country’s malls, dressed in black with their mouths taped shut, according to photographs posted online and #TheSilentWalk, a Twitter feed.

They are alleging election fraud; a charge also being made by the leader of the opposition, Anwar Ibrahim, who has called for a protest rally Wednesday in a sports stadium in Selangor state, an important industrial region near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and an opposition stronghold, according to the Singaporean newspaper Today.

As my colleague, Joe Cochrane, reported from Kuala Lumpur, Sunday’s election saw the National Front coalition of Prime Minister Najib Razak returned to power to continue its 56-year-long run in the economically prosperous Southeast Asian nation, where allegations of corruption and cronyism are widespread and quite a few had hoped for change.

As Joe wrote, the fact that the ruling coalition failed to gain a majority of the popular vote - the first time in 44 years - has raised questions about the “future” of Mr. Najib, the son of a former premier, Abdul Razak.

Questions were also being raised about the future of Mr. Anwar, who is 65, though his supporters see in him an “inspiration”:

The vote fraud allegations center around “phantom voters” and not-really indelible ink, while anger over a highly sensitive issue - race - was also brewing following the premier’s comment that a “Chinese tsunami” led to the ruling coalition’s relatively tight win.

“And just so we’re clear, it wasn’t a ‘Chinese tsunami’. It was a Malaysian tsunami,” wrote a person called S.N. Wong on the Malaysiakini Web site.

Malaysia is a multiethnic state where racial, cultural and religious tensions simmer. Mr. Najib was pointing to the fact that quite a few supporters of the opposition People’s Alliance are so-called Malaysian Chinese, though its leader, Mr. Anwar, is a Muslim.

S.N. Wong wrote: “This is Malaysia, a supposedly democratic nation. We were told to be a proud nation for being multi-racial but peaceful, small but resourceful. So Mr Prime Minister, I believe you owe us all an apology. That’s the very least you can do for us disappointed Malaysians right now.”

Several Malaysian political analysts agreed with that analysis, saying that the election outcome that deprived the ruling coalition of a popular majority wasn’t about the Malaysian-Chinese vote, but “a major swing in the urban and middle-class electorate that saw Malaysia’s urban-rural rift widen,” as The Malaysian Insider wrote.

For feminists, the election was also a disappointment, with women gaining just one extra seat in parliament, wrote Dahlia Martin, a guest commentator at New Mandala, a Web site about Southeast Asia run by the Australian National University in Canberra.

“Based on the final results, approximately 24 women have been elected to the 13th Malaysian Parliament,” Ms. Martin wrote. “That means that from the 12th Malaysian Parliament, there has been a net gain of: one.”

In the United States, a State Department spokesman congratulated Malaysia’s ruling coalition but acknowledged the opposition’s concerns over “irregularities” in the voting, Agence-France Press reported.

“We congratulate Barisan Nasional and Prime Minister Najib [Razak] on their victory in Malaysia’s 13th general election. We look forward to working with the new government once it is formed,” said Patrick Ventrell, a State Department spokesman.

Still, “we are aware of concerns about voting irregularities and note that the opposition parties faced significant restrictions on access to the media. Addressing these issues is important to strengthening confidence in the electoral process. And so we call on all parties to peacefully respect the will of the voters,” Mr. Ventrell said.

With Carbon Dioxide Approaching a New High, Scientists Sound the Alarm

THE HAGUE â€" If uncertainty runs rampant in the global-warming debate, it is in part because scientific data is often too complex to be well understood by anyone but climate scientists.

This month, however, the world is likely to reach a scientific milestone that appears impressively scary even to those with only a cursory knowledge of climate science.

For the first time in human history, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels will surpass 400 parts per million, according Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which has been measuring carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii since 1958.

“The 400-ppm threshold is a sobering milestone, and should serve as a wake-up call for all of us to support clean energy technology and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, before it’s too late for our children and grandchildren,” said Tim Lueker of the Scripps Institution in a statement.

The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is closely linked to global warming. The more carbon dioxide, the higher global average temperatures have climbed, according to climate science. (This graphic shows how global temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have been linked in the past 400,000 years)

When atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were first measured, they were in at 316 parts per million, according to a report in the scientific journal Nature. Pre-industrial revolution pollution levels were thought to be about 280 parts per million.

“Our addiction to fossil fuels has taken us over yet another scary indicator, to a place we’ve never been before in the human history,” said Kaisa Kosonen, a climate policy adviser with Greenpeace.

While the milestone is arbitrary (why is hitting 400 parts per million more alarming than a measurement of 399?), scientists say it’s an important reminder of how the levels continue to rise.

Even if the landmark 400 is reached this month, it’s unlikely stay there. As Ralph Keeling of the Scripps Institution points out, the levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere fluctuates throughout the year, with springtime usually representing the highpoint of the cycle. Trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide during the warmer months in the Northern Hemisphere, lowering the level.

“If CO2 levels don’t top 400 p.p.m. in May 2013, they almost certainly will next year,” the release quoted Dr. Keeling as saying, but in either case it will take several years before the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels remain above 400 parts per million year-round.

Carbon dioxide levels have become part of the broader discussion about global warming, in part because it’s a tangible signpost of change.

A group called 350.org has taken as its name what some scientists consider a safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The group created a very visible campaign to urge American colleges and universities divest their holdings of stock in fossil fuel companies.

On its Web site, 350.org compares the planet’s plight and the high level of atmospheric carbon dioxide with an overweight patient with dangerously high levels of cholesterol.

“He doesn’t die immediately â€" but until he changes his lifestyle and gets back down to the safe zone, he’s at more risk for heart attack or stroke,” the Web site says.

As Andrew C. Revkin wrote last week, the Scripps Institution started a Twitter feed to publicize carbon dioxide measurements.

According to one of Scripps’ recent Twitter posts, atmospheric carbon dioxide is still at 399, but the milestone could be reached any day.

“There will be no balloons or noisemakers to celebrate the event. Researchers who monitor greenhouse gases will regard it more as a disturbing marker of humanity’s power to alter the chemistry of the atmosphere and by extension, the climate of the planet,” wrote Richard Monastersky in Nature last week.

What do you think? Is reaching 400 parts per million an important milestone? Why or why not?