GEORGE TOWN: A Barisan Nasional (BN) victory in Tenang by-election should not be used as the yardstick to measure popular support and call for a snap general election, an academician said today.
Political scientist Sivamurugan Pandian said BN should use “a Tenang victory” as the turning point to rejuvenate, revitalise and re-strengthen the coalition’s grassroots support base.
He pointed out that compared with the 2004 general election, the 2008 general election saw drastic erosion of popular support for BN, including in its stronghold Johor.
He noted that in Tenang, despite winning, BN had lost popular support by at least 16% in 2008.
Thus, he said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak should not view a “Tenang victory” as a indication of increasing popular support and call for an early general election.
“Johor is traditionally a BN stronghold. So a BN victory would not be a big deal.
“BN instead should concentrate on securing a big victory in Tenang,” said the Universiti Sains Malaysia lecturer.
Nomination for Tenang by-election will be on Jan 22 while polling has been fixed for Jan 30.
Sivamurugan said BN component parties like MCA, Gerakan and MIC should use a “Tenang victory” to rebuild their respective parties’ grassroots support, which was virtually wiped out in the last general election.
The current parliamentary term ends in March 2013.
Speculations are rife in recent months that Najib would call for snap national polls to secure a two-thirds parliamentary mandate for his rule.
Some observers predicted that the next general election could be held simultaneously with Sarawak state polls, which must be called by July this year.
Mass mandate
Sivamurugan said he can understand that Najib may want to secure a mass mandate to strengthen his own moral authority and political standing as the country’s chief executive.
But, he said while the Sarawak polls would be inevitable due to the imminent expiry of its assembly term, Najib still had a choice to delay parliamentary polls for two more years.
Moreover, he suggests that BN should address and resolve many outstanding issues first before it can call for polls.
He believes snap polls could prove fatal for BN if it does not address issues like price hikes of essential items, subsidy cuts, Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial II, the open verdict on Teoh Beng Hock’s death and the Port Klang Free Zone scandal.
He said corruption, escalating crime rate, racism, and religious controversies were other thorny issues that the Najib’s government needed to address.
He said BN should not rely too much on Pakatan Rakyat’s weaknesses and Najib’s personal popularity to win the next general election.
He said BN must rebuild its support base through its own coalition strengths and agenda.
“It must resolve outstanding pressing issues and execute policies addressing the people’s needs and aspirations.
“BN should use the next two years to work towards these objectives.
“Until then, BN should not call for snap polls,” Sivamurugan said. - FMT
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