Muhyiddin

18.3.2013.

At short notice, at 12.30 p.m. about 250 of us gathered in the Dewan Semantan at the Perbadanan Putrajaya to hear the TPM and have lunch with him, courtesy of the Perbadanan and thanks to Aseh, the current boss. This was a political gathering, made up of the Wilayah Persekutuan's Mubarak, Veteran UMNO and Ex-Senior Officers' UMNO Club's charters.

As usual Muhyiddin was late, whatever the excuse. As usual the unnecessarily long  doa was read, by the Putrajaya Mosque's Imam, and the host, Aseh, and the convening chairman, Sulaiman, followed with their respective opening speeches. Mercifully the speeches were to the point and short. We should learn to cut the address to the shortest one possible. I don't think the Tan Sris and the Datuks mind if you don't single them out by name !

Muhyiddin's speech before the so-called "dialogue" was also relatively short, by political speeches' standards. Much of what was said was a rehash of most of what has been said elsewhere before, anyway. What was disappointing was the very short time given for the "dialogue".

The five speakers (yes, five ) separately spoke of:

i. The contradicting assessments of the support for BN in Kelantan. Muhyiddin said there is increasing support shown by the  large turnouts in the last several months at BN leaders' visits. 

ii. The significant numbers of party veterans and the officers' club's members suggest the highly likely victory for BN for Wilayah Persekutuan. Muhyiddin said not to be carried away by numbers. 

iii. One particular Teacher's association plea for funds. Muhyiddin said he has not heard about it, so they can officially request for it.

iv. The Bandar Tun Razak's delegate asked to cut through the divisional bickering about candidates and put someone other than the Ketua Bahagian. Muhyiddin replied all careful considerations must be made.

v. The last one was to get UMNO and PAS to work together. Muhyiddin said it's too late for GE 13, plus PAS is in deep shit among themselves right now.

I didn't, but could have posed the rethorical question:

"Tan Sri, we all know that you were instrumental in getting Dollah to step down as quickly as he did. Looking at GE 11 (2004) and GE 12 (2008) how was it possible that BN won 90% in Parliament in 2004, but lost it's two-third majority only four years later ?  What has UMNO specifically learned from the 2008 debacle, and what has it specifically done to put things right ?"

These big gatherings may be good pr and all that. The important thing is to get the votes.  Convincing voters would. They don't attend big gatherings to be convinced. The convincing must be done in small groups. The majority of voters have made up their minds if the GE is held tomorrow. But there is a sizeable portion that is waiting for the last word. Whoever gets to give it will get the vote.

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