THIRTEEN is a number deemed to be unlucky by some traditions.
But not for the Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who has often talked about 13 being his lucky number.
Even his official car registration number is 13.
Political analysts in Malaysia are using this number as a guide to when the country's 12th general elections will be called.
'For the 11th general election, the Prime Minister called for it on 3 March, 2004,' a political observer, who declined to be named, said.
Add up the numbers.
Three, three (for March), two and four, and the total is 13.
He said although this year's digits (2008) would make it difficult to achieve a sum of 13 from the date, there is a chance that the PM would make the announcement on 13 Feb.
'Then again, we can toy with other dates such as 29 Feb, 19 Feb and maybe even 18 Apr,' he said.
The Malaysian news agency Bernama recently quoted a fengshui master saying that Mr Abdullah, born in the Year of the Rabbit, would benefit from his lucky number 13 in 2008.
Reverend Yong, founder of Foretell Feng Shui Services and a practitioner for 21 years, said that dates with that number (13) or any combination of it would be good for the PM.
Under Malaysia's system of parliamentary democracy, the PM has the sole discretion to recommend the dissolution of parliament to the King.
Once parliament is dissolved, the Election Commission will conduct the general election and fix the nomination and polling dates.
GEARING UP FOR POLLS
Speculation aside, the ruling coalition or Barisan Nasional (BN) parties, and the opposition parties have been gearing up for the polls for months now.
The BN is made up of main political parties representing the Indian (MIC), Chinese (MCA) and Malay (UMNO) ethnic groups.
The main opposition parties include the Democratic Action Party (DAP), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).
But why the rush? The BN government's official five-year term is not up until May 2009.
Opposition politician M Kulasegaran said the government needs to raise petrol prices, driven by high global oil prices.
The government pays heavy subsidies of $6.36 billion to keep petrol prices one of the lowest in the region.
The PM needs to secure the mandate or support from voters before making this potentially unpopular decision.
Another factor is the show of frustration through two street rallies last year, he said.
Two non-government organisations, Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) and Bersih, took to the streets to protest, claiming discrimination against Malaysian Indians and corrupt practices in the country's electoral system.
Mr Kulasegaran, a DAP member of parliament for Ipoh Barat, in the northern state of Perak, said the government realised it was losing support among the Indian vote.
'These voters were loyal to the BN for the last few years, but things may be different now,' he added.
FIX PROBLEMS
The current judicial crisis and the former Health Minister's sex video scandal had also given the ruling government a bad name.
A BN politician, who declined to be named, said it was essential to fix these problems now, before BN loses more support.
'This means we have to work a lot harder to convince Malaysians that BN is the right political party to support,' said this member of parliament based in Petaling Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur.
The much-discussed Anwar Ibrahim factor is another reason for early polls, say some political insiders.
The former deputy prime minister is under a five-year ban from contesting in elections due to his conviction for sodomy in 2000. The ban ends in April.
Mr Anwar, who is now with the opposition camp, was arrested in 1999 on allegations of sexual misconduct after a fallout with former PM Mahathir Mohamad. He was later found guilty and jailed for six years.
Mr Anwar still has strong influence in some areas in the north and urban areas in the Klang Valley.
Mr Kulasegaran said regardless of the actual polling date, Malaysia has been struck with election fever.
Political party workers have been busy arranging logistics for the coming elections since late last year.
Mr Abdullah and other BN leaders have been visiting grassroots leaders, drumming up support for BN.
Mr Kulasegaran said: 'You can even see some posters and banners of political parties in some areas.'
All these indicate that the election is round the corner, he added.
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