What a script! What a star cast! And what a finale. Pas elections were what Bollywood would label a full paisa vasool production. At a time when sensible folks in the Capital should have been gorging on gajar halwa with dollops of rabdi, and enjoying the cool weather , here they were battling over votes, seats, numbers and completely missing the point weddings are defined by mayhem and chaos. Generally, the bridegroom is the most ignorant fellow in the set up. People fool him into believing anything. He is the last to know the bride has fled the pandal, for example. So it was in . Poo r’Shiite’ Mat Sabu was still dimpling away shyly, even arrogant and cocky Bersih leader Maria Chin Abdullah ducked uncomfortable questions and put on a brave face. who really needs to work on his baraatis. Meanwhile, the rival DAP was busy gloating, even though his party’s showing was not exactly spectacular.
The structure of government does not change, whether it is brilliant or awful. A prime minister presides. A Cabinet sits in attendance. But government collapses when common purpose is lost, when every minister becomes his own master and the prime minister turns into a helpless spectator. Government degenerates into a circus without a programme; acrobats become indistinguishable from clowns. The next prime minister must be able to exercise something more vital than the tenuous authority of an office no one takes seriously . Pakatan has had a resigned air without anyone actually having resigned. this will be the original sin of bad government is arrogance , with complacency as a silent partner electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 Pakatan began to believe that because they had got away with a lot, they could get away with anything. Should inflation be considered an obvious manifestation of political mismanagement? A major reason for today’s street rage is certainly the fact that this can be manipulated Bersih 2.0 and Pas ’Shiite’ Mat Sabu
Change UMNO in the air, and regardless of how the experts process the data, aware we Malay at least have read the writing on the wall. They have voted in numbers. They have voted dimaag se. And they have overwhelmingly voted for change. As it generally transpires during any key transition, a new lingo has emerged. It has captured the imagination of the public. Bewildered citizens are looking at one another and wondering, “Are we really the twilight voters television anchors keep referring to?” Yup. It’s the twilight voter who has altered the well-calibrated political equations and upset Mahathir’s camp applecart.
The Umno president’s first two messages for his party grassroots to take home represent the party’s hopes to get back flagging support among urban Malay Muslims and check the influence of its main political rival, PAS.
The first was that the party was taking back the mantle of “true defender of Islam” from PAS.
The second was that the party was going full steam ahead with its Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Agenda, which seeks to serve the interests of Malay-Muslim businessmen.
The Barisan Nasional, which Umno leads, was returned to federal power by a combination of votes from Malay Muslims, Sabahan and Sarawakian Muslims and non-Muslim Bumiputera.
And then in his speech at the start of the assembly, he said those two communities make up 67% of the population.
So by simple math, if Umno and the BN can harness the support of at least 60% of them, it can return to power in the 14th general election.
As was repeatedly said by the party’s grassroots, and reaffirmed by Najib during the assembly, these are their hardcore supporters.
To increase its support among urban Malay Muslims, Najib himself said that he will personally see to it that the CEOs of government-linked companies help Malay Muslim contractors and vendors.
“They will be getting a KPI on this and they will have to submit report cards on how they have met their targets,” said Najib to rapturous applause from the audience at the assembly.
The first message, on the other hand is more subtle in its aim but has a far reaching impact.Wise sages tell us to learn from our mistakes. Politics, that clever art, suggests a brilliant variation — learn from Mahathir’s mistakes of your predecessor. As long as the next government, born from the 2013 general elections, understands why Pas lost its popularity, the country will be comparatively safe and possibly healthy. Bad governance is primarily the sacrifice of national interest for partisan gain. This can operate as straight corruption, as in the spectrum fire-sale. Or it can maim policy, partner like DAP’s political blackmaiL in PAKATAN . A national government cannot abandon what is right and hope to retain its credibility. There is a visible and vocal sense of crisis in the present PAS — which affects everyone — The anger is not just about economic decline, inflation unchecked and corruption rampant — which affects everyone but also about aspiration denied which is why the young are in the demographic vanguard of opposition to the establishment. Incidentally, this is not the first crisis that India has faced. While its intensity can hardly be denied, it might be the most easily remedied. Since 1957, Tanah Melayu has a crisis in search of a solution. But here is the astonishing thing. UMNO rises to its most resilient when challenged by its biggest dangers. Despair serves as an invitation to good government. The first challenge, under control and laid the basis of a new economy through the framework for industrial and then agricultural production UMNO abandoned its shibboleths, particularly socialism, and set us on a road that promised prosperity.
UMNO is on an evolving, not a stagnant, journey. It can absorb a limp on the road, but it will not be crippled. And the most effective medicine is always, but always, a curative general election.
Najib then told the crowd that Malaysia, as a moderate Muslim nation, has been acknowledged by well-known Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas.
Umno’s religious credentials, he claimed, was also acknowledged by the imam of the Al-Haram Mosque of Mecca, Syeikh Dr Khalid Ali Al-Ghamdi. The mosque is a revered site in the Muslim world.
A party insider said that the strong stance on Islam was to capitalise on PAS’s internal rifts which have seen it sending mixed messages on religious issues, notably the spread of Shia Islam and the Allah issue.
PAS’s views on matters related to Islam are often sought by Malaysian Muslims who believed it is a more trustworthy authority compared to Umno, said the party member who declined to be named.
But because PAS leaders have sent conflicting messages about the Allah issue in the run-up to the general election, it was seen as playing politics with religion.
The same thing occurred during its own party elections where rivals would label each other as Shia. PAS has been unable to give a consistent view on the issue of Shia Islam in Malaysia, a subject that is already generally misunderstood by many Malaysian Muslims.
“PAS has shown that it is compromising on Islamic matters because it wants to win votes,” Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Idris Haron said.
There was also a third dulha crashing this wedding party, and that was Tien Chua. Let’s call him the forgotten bridegroom or the neglected damaad of Pakatan. Armed with nothing more lethal than a jhaadu, his party performed beyond all expectations and astonished skeptics. This was pretty good going considering nobody offered Anwar Israhim a dowry. His support came from ordinary people who wanted change.
People are talking about rainbows and wake-up calls. They are dreaming of a corruption-free Capital . All such talk is nonsensical. The G13results are merely the latest expression of people’s frustration . This emphatic mood swing of the voter was something very few analysts had anticipated. The fact that the female vote made the difference is being acknowledged only now, that too, in hindsight . The female vote is going to be a significant game-changer in 2018. Women sickened by Zahid ’s apathy, starting with the shabby handling of Mariam Mokhtar who waiting-list for membership of the exclusive ‘Sedition Club Uniting Malaysians’, (SCUM) which has several distinguished members like Adam Adl Talking up its religious credentials also makes sense for Umno as its internal studies show that more and more Muslims, old and young, are seeing themselves as Muslims first, Malays second.“This is where Umno has to step in and show we will not compromise on matters related to Islam,” Idris, who is also Malacca Chief Minister, added.
Yet for all the bluster about the state of the Malay economy and Islam, there are still bread and butter issues that Umno has to tackle if it is serious about wanting to regain lost seats.
Of particular importance, says Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, is the rising cost of living and pricey houses that are hurting young people.
Khairy has been the lone voice urging the leadership to act on government corruption and wastage as seen in the Auditor General’s report every year.
He feels that the government must do more to rein in uncontrolled spending and corruption if it wants to win the youth vote.
“If you want the youth to tighten their belts, you have to also show that the government is going to do the same.”
Going after Shia Muslims is an important concern, he says, but so is stamping out corruption and wastage of public funds.
“Otherwise, no matter what we say in the assembly next time, the youth, especially, will not vote for us.”
Concurrently, Bollywood too, was changing the old rules and presenting bold new perspectives that focused on the female narrative. The exciting part of the Delhi elections is how we have judged it as a teaser-trailer that provides a tantalizing glimpse of the main feature — Elections 2014. But as avid movie goers will tell you, never judge a movie by its trailer. Too many artificially propped up blockbusters have collapsed at the box office after the first weekend. Audiences, like voters, expect to get their money’s worth when they enter an auditorium. results are telling us just one thing.readmore Umno Youth chief Khairy asked Can Lim Kit Siang walk his
