theSun | THURSAY APRIL 9 2009 3

news without borders

A
s Datuk Seri Najib
Razak tackles
the tough job
AS WAS generally expected, Pakatan Rakyat of managing the

Why Pakatan Rakyat

won Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau country, the prime
but failed to thump the BN in Batang Ai. minister will have
Perhaps the state constituency in the interior his priorities. So,
of Sarawak could have fallen too if the three too, will Malaysians.
by-elections were held on different days. theSun invites you
Pakatan won in the two Bukits with bigger
majorities than what it got in the last general to share what

won the two Bukits

election just as it did in the earlier by-elec-
tions in Permatang Pauh last year and in
Kuala Terengganu earlier this year.
In Batang Ai, BN was able to more than
double its majority of 805 it won in the last
state election nearly three years ago to 1,854.
The state BN leaders, it seems, are determined
to keep out non-Sarawak parties who they
refer to as “outsiders”.
In his reaction to the defeat, Pakatan de
facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said
that the coalition is not “discouraged by the
results” of the by-election in Sarawak which
will “remain a frontline state for Keadilan and
Pakatan Rakyat”.
It is well known that Anwar, who is also
the de facto leader of PKR, wanted so much
for his party’s candidate to win so that it
would be a sort of a clarion call to the people
of Sarawak that the dominance of the state
by Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) of
Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud,
who had ruled for about 28 years, is about
to end.
But Pakatan can certainly jubilate in the
fact that the massive anti-BN sentiment that
surged during last year’s general election has
yet to lose its momentum. For the moment,
the BN, after one year, is still finding an an-
swer to it.
There is nothing new in the message it
delivered in the just-concluded by-elections
as much of it is what it had articulated in
the general election last year about justice,
fairness, equality and the rooting out of cor-
ruption – the very things the rakyat had
been asking for but
which seems to
have
Victory in Bukit Gantang ... PAS’s Datuk Seri
Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin celebrates with
his wife and other PR leaders.
you want the PM
and his cabinet
to focus their
energy on.
Let us know your three items in
order of priority, in not more than
been ignored by the BN. as the prime minister was a factor in the by- 100 words. Please email your list to
For instance, former prime minister Tun elections but the great effort some Pakatan newsdesk@thesundaily.com.
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi promised all that campaigners took to spin all sorts of stories
when he came to power at the end of 2003 about him when he was the deputy prime
but despite winning a huge mandate, he failed minister could have influenced the voters.
to deliver on the promises But he was certainly
made in “my manifesto”. among the central cam-
The voters were disap- paign issues in Bukit
pointed but more so the non- Comment Gantang, especially
Malays who were especially by Zainon Ahmad among the Chinese vot-
disappointed that he failed newsdesk@thesundaily.com. ers, who form 27% of
to rein in those “braves” in the electorate, for his
Umno who were shouting role in early February
for their new battle cry “ketuanan Melayu” in engineering the fall of the Pakatan Rakyat parties, being in the Opposition, to have all
to influence the policies of the government. government that seemed to be favoured by kinds of unflattering things to say about the BN
Thus, he was punished. the non-Malays. governments and their past records, they seem
What about his successor Datuk Seri Najib Probably, it was because of this that the to also have a better delivery system than the
Razak, who was sworn in on Friday and, since Chinese voters thumbed their noses at the much touted “awesome election machinery”
then, had been promising all that is good – a BN’s MCA and Gerakan efforts to win them of the BN.
multiracial and democratic nirvana of sorts over. Instead, more of them – almost 90% From observations from a number of
– in a package called One Malaysia? Did they in the Chinese settlement of Kuala Sepetang people, the Pakatan campaign was well-coor-
disbelieve him and vote accordingly? – voted for Pakatan. dinated and planned with little left to chances.
It is difficult to tell whether his four days While it is certainly easier for the Pakatan New approaches and strategies were planned
with inputs from young computer-savvy
people who came forward to volunteer their
Pakatan (Rakyat) can certainly jubilate in the fact that the services.
massive anti-BN sentiment that surged during last year’s For instance, when it was learnt that “new”
Umno member Tun Dr Mahahtir Mohamad
general election has yet to lose its momentum. For the moment, was going to campaign in Bukit Gantang and
the BN, after one year, is still finding an answer to it.” Bukit Selambau, the planners and strategists
huddled to decide on what damage he could
The best answer to the anti-BN momentum and the best do to their campaign. They decided he was of
way to stop the Pakatan Rakyat in its tracks is for Najib and no consequence.
They called in some of their campaigners
his government to walk the talk of all that he had promised to and briefed them on Mahathir and asked them
do under his One Malaysia project.” to tell their ceramah audience who the man is
well ahead of his arrival in the two constituten-
cies on the last day of the campaign period.
According to PKR strategist Saifudin Nasu-
tion Ismail, he knew Mahathir still had influ-
ence among those who are 50 years and above
and these are mostly BN voters and who would
want to hear him again “mostly for nostalgic
reasons”. He was unlikely to have much sway
among the young voters.
The strategists identified areas and gauged
their support there before deciding to send in
their armies of “unknown but capable and
credible persuaders” to chip away the influ-
ence of their opponents. In Malay areas “lebai
and ustaz” were dispatched.
If the problem was bigger and involve a
larger area, persuaive speakers who are also
crowd-pullers like Anwar would be called
in to perform their magic. The PKR leader is
an entertaining speaker and often spiced his
railings against the BN and their leaders with
funny and amusing anecdotes about them.
On the other hand, there was nothing new
in the way the BN parties conducted their
campaign. In fact, many of the people who
spoke at the ceramah should not have been
at the by-elections in the first place if, as the
government claims, rooting out corruption is

‘BN must look into weaknesses’ high on its list of priorities.

by Giam Say Khoon
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
TAIPING: Barisan Nasional (BN) should learn
its lesson for not being able to wrest the Bukit
Gantang parliamentary seat from Pakatan
Rakyat (PR) on Tuesday night.
It was the third time that it had failed to
win in a by-election – the other two were in
Permatang Pauh and Kuala Terengganu – since
the general election last year.
According to Gerakan deputy president and
Perak liaison chief Datuk Chang Ko Youn, BN still
enjoys the support of the Malay and Indian vot-
ers as both percentages have remained about
the same. The major factor that caused the BN
defeat was the support – or lack of support – of
the Chinese voters: the BN only garnered about
18% of their support in the by-election.
“It is not that the Chinese like PAS or DAP so
much but because some extreme statements
and arrogance of some BN politicians had con-
tinued to fuel the emotion of the March 8 politi-
cal tsunami last year,” Chang told theSun.
“It is not a blame game but the feeling of the
‘political tsunami’ exists even one year after the
general election. The BN has to seriously look
into its weaknesses and listen to the people
who want change.”
He said there was also a big difference in
the quality of the PAS candidate, former mentri
besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin,
over his BN rival, former Bukit Gantang Umno
information chief Ismail Saffian.
Chang disagreed that the by-election results
were a blow to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib
Abdul Razak because Najib has been the prime
minister for only a few days and he should be
given more time to perform.
PAS Bukit Gantang by-election operations
director Asmuni Awi said although the major-
ity won by PAS has gone up from 1,566 last
year to 2, 789 this time, the result is status
quo because the voter turnout increased from
72.6% to 75.1%.
He said he believed the voters had dis-
played a change in mindset, which transients
the differences in racial, religious and cultural
And, meanwhile, the BN parties have yet
to find their answer to Anwar who is just as
good and effective speaker in Malay as he is
backgrounds, and
in English.
that they wanted
MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu is a
a new political
good and persuasive speaker in Tamil where,
format.
working relentlessly in Bukit Selambau long
“The mes-
before nomination day, he was able to win
sage that we can
back a large number of Indian voters.
interpret from
In the general election, the bulk of the In-
the by-election is
dian voters deserted the MIC and the BN got
that (such norm)
only about 20% of their votes but, led by Samy,
will happen
the BN was able to win back another 20% of
again in the next
their votes.
general election Asmuni ... ‘voters
Where Indians form only about 29% of the
and we hope the showed change in
35,140 Bukit Selambau voters, it was not much
BN leadership mindset’
and was unable to offset the increase in the
get the message
number of Malay and Chinese votes that went
and attend to the
to Anwar’s party, the PKR.
people,” he told a press conference at the PAS
But the best answer to the anti-BN momen-
by-election headquarters in Bukit Gantang
tum and the best way to stop the Pakatan Rakyat
yesterday.
in its tracks is for Najib and his government to
Asmuni said although the “local factor” of
walk the talk of all that he had promised to do
Ismail had helped BN to win votes in the Malay
under his One Malaysia project.
areas, PAS still managed to maintain its target
Perhaps Najib also should consider mak-
of getting 43% of the Malay support, which was
ing the walkabout he did in Kuala Lumpur on
between the 40%-47% support range.
Saturday to be a regular practice in other parts
of the country. After all, isn’t perception king?