Malay rights group Perkasa vice-president Zulkifli Noordin has used a badminton analogy to rebut the "myth" that the BN federal government is illegitimate as it failed to secure the majority of popular votes in the 13th general election.

In a commentary published in Utusan Malaysia today, Zulkifli stressed that Malaysia practises the electoral system of first-past-the-post, in which the party that wins 112 out of 222 parliamentary seats is the winner that can form the new federal government.

NONE "The number of total votes secured has never been accepted as the measurement of victory," Zulkifli argued.

To stress his point, he used the analogy of a three-set badminton game between PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak, where Najib wins the first and third sets (21-19) against Anwar, while Anwar wins the second set (21-3).

"When the umpire announces that Najib wins by 2-1, Anwar stands up and cries that he should be the winner because he obtained 59 points or 57 percent of the total points (104), whereas Najib only obtained 45 points or 43 percent of the total points.

"I am very sure that if Anwar claims as such, the audience would either say he is crazy or he has no brain at all! Why? Because we all know that in a badminton match, the winner is determined by the total number of sets won, not the total points," Zulkifli said.

'Pakatan not a registered coalition'

The BN candidate, who was defeated by PAS incumbent Khalid Samad in the parliamentary constituency of Shah Alam in the May 5 general election, also pointed out that the PKR-DAP-PAS fraternity is not a registered coalition that existed in the general election, unlike BN.

"There are constituencies where there was competition among DAP, PKR and PAS, such as Sungai Acheh and Kota Damansara."

Hence, the total votes garnered by the three parties under different logos should not be summed up and compared with the votes polled by BN, he said.

Zulkifli also slammed Anwar for practising double standards by not questioning the number of seats won by DAP, which was disproportionate to the votes it secured.

According to his calculations, DAP - which received 15.42 percent of the popular votes - deserve only 34 seats compared to the 38 seats it won, while PKR - which received 20.03 percent of the popular votes - should be given 45 seats and not the current 30 seats it had obtained.