Courting the Malay votes.

27.8.2016.

At a "warong" this morning, I had to share a table with another two patrons, because all other tables were occupied by people like me, having their late Saturday morning breakfast in the many similiar "warongs" in Ampangan. As I sipped my piping hot "teh O kosong", I couldn't  help hearing their conversation: it was about local politics. A gist of it was, that the MB only has the support of 3/8 of the NS Divisions; that the incumbents in Jelebu and Rasah are keen to take over the Negeri helm; that the proposed new party, Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (BERSATU), has been making its rounds in parts of NS and has caught the ears of the Malays.

With UMNO's current affliction with the Najib-created problems, the numbers crunched at the recent Sarawak State elections followed closely by the two Parliamentry bye-elections at  Sg. Besar, Selangor and Kuala Kangsar, Perak, it goes without saying the next GE would be about numbers, pure and simple. The party that gets them wins.

The Election Commission reported that UMNO received 3,252,484 votes in GE 13, out of the total 10,861,683 cast. A recent UMNO info says the party has 3,549,061 registered members, made up of 1,198,239 ordinary members, 1,364,947 Wanita, 607,336 Youth, and 378,539 Puteri. These are not overwhelming numbers when compared to each other. One obvious conclusion is that not all of the members voted for UMNO in GE 13. If BERSATU manages to attract many UMNO members away from the old party, it could spell big trouble for UMNO.

I've blogged much earlier about Najib's innately obtuse strategy of having the people around him handle the 1 MDB  debacle in and out of Parliament, and in and out of the country. Obviously if you lie in Parliament, it's a different category of deceit than your normal street bluff. And all the while, Najib hasn't actually even tried to answer the questions himself. The closest he came was when he chickened out of PWTC for the "Nothing To Hide" session he'd agreed to earlier, when he found out the Old Fox was there. Some "Pahlawan Bugis"!

I've blogged about the non-denial of the 2.6 billion donation. In fact the "bidan terjun" (literally: diving midwife) AG he hastily replaced Gani with went further to admit the banking in of money into his personal account: he said to the press, proudly holding the coloured diagram somebody must have drawn for him, unknowingly displaying more than was intended,  that the donation has mostly (more than 2 billion out of the 2.6) been returned to the donor, who happened to be one very dead Saudi King !

I've blogged about the disbandment of the PAC. I've blogged about the arrest of non-terrorist Khairuddin AND his terrible but equally non-terrorist lawyer for making the police report, under the anti-terrorist SOSMA. The sacking of Muhyiddin, Mukhriz and suspension of Shafie have also been referrred to earlier. Also, I wrote about "Big Hearted & Gentleman" Najib controlling the 2015 UMNO General Assembly, denying popularly elected Muhyiddin his rostrum, and silencing the strangely cowed delegates in an utterly bizarre conference, acting for all he cared in neither a big-hearted way, nor  in any  gentlemanly manner whatsoever!

Surely it's not impossible for the ordinary Malays to understand the facts:

1. Various and varying versions of the bull shit  have been put to Parliament.

2. A huge amount of money went into Najib's bank account.

3. Government Institutions have been tampered with: the office of the AG; the MACC; the Police; the PAC; the operations of the MoF; the Central Bank. This is not an exhaustive list, mind-boggling though it already is !

The very aggressive rebuttal by Najib and his team requires response, so that the Malays could compare the different view points. Let's take them one by one:

1. Mahathir cannot interfere.

Mahathir was not sacked, but resigned from the PM's job. People asked Mahathir to query Najib about 1MDB because he's the only one left to make Najib listen. DAP and PKR for some time have started raising questions, to no avail.

2. Mahathir should just pray to God and don't disturb the running of the government.

It's because of his piety that he's forced to do what he has done, because no one else seemed to make any impression on Najib.

(By the way, if that photo of Najib standing for prayer is untouched, his posture is incorrect: the right wrist should fold over the left, not the other way around !)

3. Now Najib is officiating several portions of the LRT in KL and PJ because he says, unlike Mahathir, he's concerned about public transport woes in the capital.

When was the first LRT plan tabled ? Moving the administration to Putrajaya hasn't contributed to unjamming the woes of KL/PJ traffic? Whose idea was Putrajaya ?

4. Billions were lost in Mahathir's time.

Business can suffer losses. The important thing is everything was above board. No money went into Mahathir's pocket. Anyway, where was Najib then ? Why didn't he make any noise ?

5. Malaysia has made the best Olympics showing ever under Najib.

Who was the Sports Minister, and the Education Minister under Mahathir ?

6. Without Mahathir now Proton is making progress.

Who started Proton ?

7. Ku Li and Musa Hitam have joined the fray to have a go at Mahathir.

Throughout his entire political career Musa was  hopelessly outmanoeuvered by the wily fox - Musa just can't stand the painful memory ! Yet Mahathir made him Chairman of Felda and Malaysia's Rep. to the UN and with full ministerial status. I don't think Musa would do the same if the position was reversed.

Ku Li lost to Mahathir in the fight for UMNO's Presidency. Like a sore loser, his team caused UMNO to be struck off by the ROS in 1987 and he formed S 46. And Ku Li said Mahathir is like a monkey who will not let go once he holds something. So he lost to a monkey! 

8. The 1MDB case has now gone to US DoJ, the AG of Switzerland, and Monetary Authority of Singapore.

This is not foreign interference as claimed by Ir.Idris Harun of Melaka. Surely he must have been a bright student to have that "Ir" before his name, even if he speaks like a Std. 6 student. We are talking about USA, not Cambodia (apologies to Hasan Malik, our ambassador there).

My fellow Malays ! God gave us thought. Think. Mahathir is no Nabi. Najib is no Nabi either. Look at the facts carefully. When Dollah didn't perform in the GE 12, Najib and Muhyiddin were instrumental in asking him to go, and he went.  Najib now says you cannot make a popularly elected PM go. Najib numerically performed worse in GE 13. And that was before 1 MDB. If Najib really loves UMNO and this country of ours, his one single action of resigning would save everyone the trouble. That would be very big hearted and very brave.

Or is there someone stopping him ?

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