TQ, ppl of p. pauh and why BN lost

thank you to the great people of permating pauh for giving anwar an over-whelming majority! i knew anwar would win but i thought maybe only 1000 or so majority. boy, was i glad when i found out it was over 15,000 majority! my reaction was the exact opposite of my reaction when i heard that the arrogant son-in-law won in rembau on 8 march!! now, i hope, with anwar in parliament, he will go bury khairy!! (say, it rhyme. all together now – bury khairy! bury khairy! bury khairy!).

parliament sittings will never be the same again with anwar present i guess. i just can’t wait to see how it will go. i just hope we won’t hear some sore losers BN/umno people shouting ‘liwat! liwat’ in parliament! with people like that bung around, who knows, it is possible. after all didn’t they already use this ‘liwat’ case so much in their campaigning… which to me is one of the main cause of their downfall.

which reminds me, ok my analysis of why BN/umno lost heavily (in no particular order).

1. playing the racial card. (but really, what else do they know?). they talked so much about anwar selling out the malays and accusing him as a ‘chinese agent’. also about penang falling into a chinese CM (with the banner of LGE and words ‘penang gua punya’). the mention of ketuanan melayu all the time frightened the non malays voters.

2.  character assassination.  (but really, what else can they do?). attacked, attacked, attacked anwar was all they did. especially on his sodomy charge of course. then they also attacked anwar as being a US agent or israel agent. of course part of no. 1 there also falls here (eg attacking anwar of selling out the malays).

3. playing the saiful-swear video over and over again. huh? i thought they did sort of mention they won’t use anwar’s sodomy charge as part of their campaign? ha! talk big! instead, it was the opposite – they used it to the hilt! methink playing the video over and over again somehow pissed off a lot of people. maybe even those who do support BN, felt pissed off!! for one thing, many of them might not believe saiful and for another, many might felt uneasy with what saiful said in his swearing… you know lah the ‘insert __ into my __’ part.

4.  umno’s swearing culture. first the boy saiful then the boy  er… man…. ‘i do not know altantuya’ DPM.

5.  saiful’s swearing on eve of nomination day and the petrol price reduction of mere 15 cents on 24 aug. instead of the scheduled 1 sept.

6.  final one. people are now very much wiser! wise not to be fooled or bullied by umno!! they are fed up of umno already! though some may not like anwar but they hate umno more so they are willing to give anwar a chance.

oh wait…. this is the final one…
7.  the son-in-law KJ’s arrogant call of ‘we will bury anwar!’. sorry, maybe this is not the reason but i just can’t resist it. 🙂

i will not leave you with my views but the view of dr lim teck ghee, taken from malaysiakini ‘now we’ve a reason to celebrate merdeka‘.
(btw, for pictures of the D-day, go to susan loone’s. the picture here is taken from malaysiakini).

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Malaysiakini
by Lim Teck Ghee

On Aug 26, five days before 51th Merdeka, voters in Permatang Pauh went to vote for what they want – of a better Malaysia for themselves and their children.

The outcome: they voted for the opposition candidate not by a small majority as predicted by many observers but by a resounding majority that shatters once and for all the many stereotypes held of the Malaysian electorate as fearful, docile, easy to manipulate, and captive to the racial fears stoked up by an opportunistic, cynical and increasingly out of touch and desperate Barisan Nasional coalition.

All Malaysians should salute the Malay voters especially as they were subject to intense pressure to vote for the Barisan candidate so as to safeguard “the future of the Malay race” and “Malay supremacy”.

Rejecting one of the most blatantly racist election campaigns run by the BN one example was a widely disseminated flyer of a “babi (or pig) cabinet” coming into power should the PKR candidate win; turning a deaf ear to the smear and fear campaign waged against Anwar Ibrahim, his PKR colleagues and the Pakatan Rakyat parties; ignoring the mainstream mass media which again showed its true colours by largely churning out a torrent of propaganda extolling the present government and running down the opposition candidate, the great majority of this semi-rural constituency voted for a leader and for the Pakatan Rakyat coalition and their hope that through their vote, decency, good governance and good sense will be restored to our body politics and to the other major institutions subject to abusive and repressive BN control and influence.

All those who voted for the opposition party in Permatang Pauh may not be fully aware of the momentous ripple effects of their decision in the voting booth.

The elections result is likely to intensify the infighting within the top Umno leadership with each faction blaming the other for the devastating scale of defeat. It could also widen the growing rift between Umno and the non-Malay BN coalition parties – the latter will surely be concerned at how the Permatang Pauh campaign was so much focused on the restoration of “Ketuanan Melayu ala Umno” and the Malay agenda.

Other ripple effects are an even larger question mark over BN’s grip on power in the country with the possibility of a snowballing loss of confidence in Umno’s ability to reform itself leading to a possible mass exodus of BN parliamentarians to the Pakatan side.  

Fatal dent to Najib’s hopes

Finally, the decisive margin of victory achieved by Anwar – despite a considerable investment of time and personal attention put into the campaign by the Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak to destroy Anwar’s political career – may put a fatal dent to Najib’s hopes of succeeding to the prime ministership position when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi steps down.

The key issues pushed by the BN election machinery did not touch only on race and economy but they also focused on that of character – principally through the sodomy allegation against Anwar.

If Permatang Pauh is a gauge of the concerns of the larger Malay population on the character issue, it would appear that there are considerably more concerns with the moral deficiencies and lapses on the government side that those attributed to opposition figures and parties.  

Whatever the larger macro political ripple effects arising from this by election results, Permatang Pauh voters should not be punished for exercising their democratic right to vote.

Continued neglect of the socio-economic and livelihood that beset many in the constituency; deliberate delay of development projects or malicious singling out of localities, kampungs, voters and their families for discriminatory action to penalise politically incorrect behaviour will not only be counterproductive but it will also reinforce the perception of many voters in Permatang Pauh and the rest of the country that the BN is beyond reform.