Knocked down on the "Pasir".

26.8.2009.

Before leaving for the mosque for "Terawih" last night, the wife asked if BN had won in Permatang Pasir. I said I'd be surprised if it did. I wasn't. Looks like UMNO is being kicked around the former padi fields of Pulau Pinang, or thereabout. "Permatang" being the bund separating the watered padi plots, there was Permatang Pauh, and now Permatang Pasir. UMNO leaders, no doubt, must now find out what the hell is about these padi bunds that's tripping it time and again. 

If UMNO hoped the old local sleepy-head Parlimentarian Dollah could have helped, it was too much to hope for. Anyway, did he show his pock-marked face at all during all the commotion ?

Firstly, why the hell can't they find a less controversial candidate, knowing full well UMNO has enough problems as it is ? I mean, truth notwithstanding, a lawyer without a disbarment certificate can surely be found between Batu Ferringhi and Balik Pulau ! What happened then was a lot of effort was wasted in putting up the whining defence for the poor fellow, distracting everybody from pushing for the vote. 

Secondly, this is already a full eighteen months from the 2008 thrashing at the ballot-box, and UMNO is still doing everything the same style. It's the style, man ! Fashions change, dammit. A vote is given for many reasons, and they don't have to be cerebral. Just look at the votes cast at the supermarkets - shall I buy this or that, this many or just the one, this colour or another, ad infintum. What goes in the shopper's head is the impression he has, because of the advertisement, or his past experience, or his friend's opinion. And yet we're all a creature of habit, and habits die hard (not Bruce Willis).

By sheer habit UMNO shouldn't have sufferred so badly in 2008. It did. So, what happened ? So UMNO should repackage itself, and spend more money on advertisement. Any manufacturer worth his salt will tell you that. The divisonal machinery is out of synch with the mood of the Malays. The branches just mope around, waiting for the same stale instructions from the division. There simply hasn't been any attempt by UMNO leaders to radically change its approach at selling itself to the Malays.

Their tastes have changed. Their educational background has changed. Their perceptions have changed. Only UMNO and its selected leaders behave as if nothing has. Najib says it's not business as usual now. But the prevailing impression is, it is. At the "grass-root" level, people have said all these many times to UMNO people at small meetings , even in the shops and malls where they bumped into each other. UMNO is the party, we are the voters. Apparently East and West don't meet anymore. 

Perhaps those in KL think that what they or their speechwriters say can change people's opinion, just like that ? Well, talk is cheap. It takes more than wandering around the Ramadhan stalls to show that UMNO cares. YOU walk around the Ramadhan stalls, not UMNO. People are still smarting from governmental woes and municipality mess. Don't go around and say that it's not UMNO. Scandals of all sorts appear daily but don't say it's not UMNO. Liason chairmen send their people to run down opposing divisional heads. That's not old UMNO ? I'm afraid the perception is, it is. That's the whole trouble. 

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