Winning the next elections

Winning the next elections
14 Oct 09 – the NutGraph
By Wong Chin Huat

THERE are three ways to understand the stunning outcome of the Bagan Pinang by-election: Najib, Isa and the Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

If you believe that the Barisan Nasional (BN)’s victory is really about Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia, then you would have to accept that Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad and the money politics he represents is the face of 1Malaysia in Bagan Pinang. You would also have to believe that the voters do not see any discrepancy between the ideals of 1Malaysia and money politics, and perhaps see political corruption as a technical error, rather than a moral issue.

If you believe that the victory is actually about Isa, then there is not much credit that Najib, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin or Parti Makkal Sakthi Malaysia can claim. Isa is just the locals’ favourite son who could walk around to “cari-cari undi” and win handsomely. What does that tell us about the next elections? Umno should just field more well-liked local warlords, at least in semi-rural and rural seats.

But how many more like Isa can the BN and Umno find? And how many votes will they lose among the urban electorate who do care about integrity and accountability?

The third way to understand the Bagan Pinang poll results is this: notwithstanding the Isa factor, the PR has itself to blame for the widening majority, from 2,333 votes in 2008 to 5,435 votes in 2009.

You could attribute it to the relatively weak candidate fielded by PAS, who was not even a good public speaker. You could blame it on the poor service record of Datuk Kamarul Baharin Abbas, the PKR parliamentarian for Teluk Kemang where the Bagan Pinang state seat is located. You can point fingers at the complacent PAS electoral machinery, or the last-minute campaigning by PR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

But apart from these conventional explanations, what else do the results portend for political parties, especially in the PR?

…read more (NutGraph)

Bagan Pinang: Corruption is corruption!

Isa was such a powerful force within Umno with wide ranging influence. It would have been very difficult to find such a personality guilty but the evidence surely must have been overwhelming that the Board had no other alternative except to convict him. Eminent people sat on the Disciplinary Board among whom were Tan Sri Zaki Azmi, the present Chief Justice, and Tengku Ahmad Rithaudeen, a one time long-serving cabinet minister and lawyer. So the verdict has total credibility and substance to quash any question of impropriety in their decision.

For the PM to claim that the offence was merely a technical one and that it was not an offence under the law is preposterous. Money politics is a criminal offence, it is an act of corruption, and if the PM has any other notion, then this matter should be referred to the MACC to seek their professional opinion! It is rather disappointing that the MACC did not move in to investigate Isa for corruption. If an Opposition person was embroiled in similar circumstances, there would be no doubt as to how the MACC would have acted.

Umno did Isa a favour by not referring Isa’s money politics to the MACC. If that was done then, today Umno will not have this shameful episode of offering a corrupt politician as its candidate at the Bagan Pinang by-election.

Bagan Pinang…there is no Plan B

Bagan Pinang…there is no Plan B (part 2)
October 04, 2009 – steadyaku47

…
And now Isa. When will they ever learn? From the moment they decided on Isa there have already lost the war. What is one battle in a war of attrition that will culminate in the next General Elections not too far away? It might one battle but we want to win this battle at Bagan Pinang! Not by reducing UMNO’s majority but by ensuring that Pakatan Rakyat will win – even if it is with one solitary vote!

And so that is why you who are close enough to go to Bagan Pinang for Pakatan Rakat – you must make the time and go. Go and do what you can if it is even to just stand amongst our people and our cause.

A few minutes ago I received this email from a friend: ” The guy who takes care of my house here, when I am away, tells me that BN will win here for sure. And, he looks depressed. He says that voters each are getting RM100, a huge tin of Milo, and something else that I can’t remember. How lah like this, he asked me! Opposition cannot lawan if like this. The people here are very poor lah!”

Najib this is what your people are doing in Bagan Pinang…as if you do not know!

One thing we know now friend. UMNO focus has now shifted to survival mode. The naming of Isa confirms that. But UMNO are not on life support yet….we have to work harder! Our best defense is offense. And the only offense is relentless!

…read more (steadyaku47)

Nothing technical about corruption

Datuk Seri Najib Razak is right. Everyone deserves a second chance.

Even Tan Sri Mohamed Isa Samad, who served his party and state well, and later served three of six years’ suspension for money politics in Umno.

But the Umno president is wrong to call Isa’s offence a technical matter within the party as he told a student in Paris yesterday. “This (Isa’s offence) is only a technical matter in the party and he has already paid for his deeds,” Najib was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

The only reason why Isa did not face any charges in court is because Umno’s money politics is under a preferential category of crimes.

And thus, up to the party to decide whether those in the wrong need to face the full weight of the country’s laws. Isa did not because the former Negri Sembilan mentri besar is powerful and, as Najib himself admitted, popular and capable of winning.

But if that is how Najib looks at corruption, then it calls to question the prime minister’s attitude towards fighting graft and eradicating the scourge in the country.
…

Army town declaration an instant noodle project

PAS today ridiculed the declaration of Port Dickson as the Army town as an example of an “instant noodle project.”

The declaration was made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak last week in recognition of the role played by servicemen in the nation’s development, but the move was seen as an attempt to canvass for the support of the postal voters who form more than 30 per cent of the some 14,000 Bagan Pinang voters.

…

Umno suffers even if it wins Bagan Pinang

…
One misgiving that will linger after the by-election has come and gone, even among Umno supporters, is that this incident illustrates that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak lacks control over the party at state and local levels.

This turn of events also shows that other BN members, despite being under as much pressure as Umno is to reposition themselves, are unable to advise their big brother to think beyond narrow party politics.

Whatever the result of the by-election, repercussions within Umno are to be expected. Discontented elements within it are bound to make their objections heard after the battle in Bagan Pinang is over, especially when this year’s general assembly, during which serious party reforms are to be announced, is just around the corner.

The party’s allies will be watching with bated breath, knowing that their own future depends on Umno’s ability to adopt bold and innovative reforms.

A Vote for Pakatan is a Vote Against Corruption

A VOTE FOR PAKATAN IS A VOTE AGAINST CORRUPTION
By Thomas Lee
3 October 2009 – Malaysia Today

The Bagan Pinang by-election on Oct 11 is an opportunity for the voters to tell the Braisan Nasional in no uncertain term that the practice of corruption and cronyism must be wiped out in the country. They must go all out to ensure the defeat of the Umno candidate.

By fielding a candidate suspended by his own party for corrupt practice, the Barisan Nasional is obviously snubbing the people, indicating that it couldn’t care less about what they think and feel. It is a de facto endorsement of corrupt practices.

By nominating such a tainted candidate for the Bagan Pinang by-election, the purported high moral ground on which the Umno leaders have been self-righteously proclaiming has been exposed as a mere hollow sinking ground.

Umno is arrogantly confident and cocksure that it will win the Bagan Pinang battle even with a corruption-contaminated candidate.

The voters of Bagan Pinang must come out in full force to show Umno through the ballot box that the days of its exaggerated sense of superiority are numbered.

…read more (Malaysia Today)

BN sending message that it stands for corruption

…
But still, is Barisan out of its mind? In this case, they have blatantly put the interests of the party ahead of the people, and put political performance ahead of statesmanship. Is this what 1 Malaysia means?

Barisan touts itself as a wiser party, one willing to change and heed the people. Isa is a vote-buyer and carries a history of corruption — corruption so blatant that even Umno could not ignore it, and suspended him from the party. If there’s one thing Malaysians are tired of, it’s corruption — it’s why we voted so strongly in Pak Lah’s favour in 2004, and why we voted so strongly in Pakatan Rakyat’s favour in 2008.

To be precise, we’re tired of the government dragging its heels when it needs to act on corruption. That’s why we so furiously gave Barisan the boot in 2008 — we’ve given up hope on sweet-talking liars who promise one thing and give us another. And in Isa’s case, this is no mere foot-dragging.

Barisan is compromising its entire platform of reform by nominating Isa, in the hope it can win this one by-election. It is nominating a known money politician to represent itself to the people of Bagan Pinang and the people of Malaysia. It is basically telling us that Barisan stands for corruption.
…

Bagan Pinang: Scrapping the bottom of the barrel

SCRAPPING THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL (UPDATED WITH CHINESE TRANSLATION)
By Hakim Joe
1 October 2009 – Malaysia Today

…
Nevertheless, what possessed the selectors to opt for an elderly man who had once been suspended from party membership for fraud? A man famous for the granting of timber concessions and state land grants? Well, if someone who was found guilty of committing the same actions can subsequently be elected as the Umno Youth Chief, what is so wrong with another person who, of a similar background, is being selected to represent the governing coalition in this by election? Apparently the answer is that there is nothing wrong with it. What does this say of the selectors and their concept of a high caliber candidate?

Basically what it does is that it infers that the government supports such actions (money politics to them and corruption to the rest of us layman). Michael Douglas once said in the film Wall Street that “greed is good”. Perhaps that is actually the overt message the Umno hierarchy is attempting to impart to its members. Nothing to be ashamed of anyway.

The newly installed Umno administration, under new management, has tried hard to put on a show of reform, integrity and honor but this one deed of selecting soiled goods to represent them exhibits a trait that positively shows just where they stand, despite what they say. Old habits die hard, older politicians seldom die.

Let us now inspect the BN/Umno candidate. Mohd Isa is no stranger to the current political scene as shown by the support from the Umno grassroot notwithstanding his absence from active politics for three years. The contested seat of Bagan Pinang is also not unknown to him as it is the constituency that neighbors his former state assembly seat of Linggi in Negeri Sembilan. Additionally, the bigwigs of KL have thrown their full support behind him and the voters are the people whom he is acquainted with. Incumbency in a pro-BN stronghold with a massive postal vote (almost 41%) and a large war chest sounds like a landslide-winning formula. Even nominate a monkey (wearing the blue BN cap) and it is odds on that it will still win, lest a former state MB. However, this is where all the “feel good” sentiments end.

One, we are talking about a candidate that has been rejected by the same political party that he was a prominent member of. Call it money politics or whatever but it is still electoral fraud by any other name and since money is used as the means to entice certain quarters to vote in favor of him, that is what one calls corruption. In the eyes of those who condemn this individual within Umno, it is not the actions that became the failings of this one man but the actions of getting caught that’s the real crime. Boasting about how much he spent in the Umno party elections was really never the sensible thing to do.

…read more (Malaysia Today)

Indian electorate in Bagan Pinang neglected

There is one reason why the majority of the 2,800 Indian voters in Bagan Pinang, who voted PAS in Election 2008, are likely to again vote for the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the Oct 11 by-election.

The reason is total neglect of the community, not just between March 2008 and now but over several decades.

In fact the worst neglect happened during the 24-year tenure of Tan Sri Isa Mohamad Samad, the Barisan Nasional (BN)/Umno candidate in the by-election.

“It is such an irony that the man who is to be largely blamed for the neglect of the Indian community in Bagan Pinang has returned to become the candidate,” said Vasantha Kumar, a former Hindraf leader who is urging the Indian voters to back PR.

“BN/MIC/Umno have all neglected them,” he said. “Now they are facing the same voters again and making the same unfulfilled promises.”
…