State BN political change: Is it for real?

These days, Penang BN appears to be acting like an opposition front after years in the command centre.

COMMENT

GEORGE TOWN: After three years, Penang Barisan Nasional (BN) has finally decided to fulfil its role as a constructive opposition to the current Pakatan Rakyat-ruled Penang government.

Judging by Senator Koh Tsu Koon’s boast at the state BN convention last Sunday, the coalition local leaders and elected representatives may have finally realised that “BN is the opposition, no longer the ruling party, in Penang”.

“We will not stand still against their (Pakatan) political attacks any longer. We will defend ourselves and hit back hard at them,” Koh told BN delegates at the convention.

Koh’s remarks were a reaction to the constant political whacking BN had been getting from Pakatan leaders over the past three years.

His views were echoed by state BN information chief and PPP chairman M Loga Balan.

“BN has embarked on a political transformation. We want to be an effective, progressive and dynamic opposition from now on,” Logo Balan told a press conference recently.

He said this when asked about the sudden change in BN political style from one of “ruling party” mentality to that of an opposition front.

Loga Balan said that BN would soon come up with an appraisal report card on Pakatan performance as the state government.

No time frame was given for its publication, but he said it would be a comprehensive appraisal.

Deep slumber

Local political scientist Sivamurugan Pandian once said that BN should transform its political role into an effective opposition front providing constructive views and criticisms on policy matters.

Has Koh heeded the call?

Has BN finally come of age to play the pivotal state opposition role?

Have BN local leaders and elected representatives woken up from their deep slumber to accept that they had been voted out of power by Penangites in 2008 general election?

Have they accepted the political reality that BN had failed the people with a miserable performance as a united opposition front?

Only time will tell.

Due to the state BN poor performance as an effective opposition, the Pakatan government helmed by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has been having a comfortable time so far.

It’s not that BN politicians were not been able to score political points against Lim and company.

But their potshots against Pakatan have been rare and far in between.

Even at the State Legislative Assembly sessions, the 11 BN assemblymen, all from Umno, had failed to live up to expectations.

More often than not, Umno legislators have performed like BN federal government representatives rather than as an opposition.

Apart from assemblymen Arif Shah Omar Shah of Seberang Jaya and Jasmin Mohamed of Sungai Dua, the other nine Umno assemblymen have all failed to stand up to be counted.

Opposition leader Azhar Ibrahim of Penaga, Shabudin Yahaya of Tasek Gelugor and former deputy chief minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya of Teluk Bahang were conspicuously “absent”.

Defensive shells

One can’t blame Umno politicians for they hardly knew or were ever used to opposition politics after being in the ruling party political sphere for 50 years.

Moreover, said a young cyber-savvy BN politician, Umno politicians can never comprehend political governance based on human rights, social values, equal and just society, rule of law and non-racial ideals.

“They only know about Umno, Malay supremacy, projects, contracts, and the latest, Perkasa,” said the politician.

Indeed, Pakatan elected representatives, who had derived their political knowledge and tactical know-how from years of experience in the opposition, have on most occasions cornered Umno lawmakers into defensive shells.

During debate time, Pakatan backbenchers have been the ones setting the tone of the agenda, not Umno representatives.

Instead of turning on the screws on the Pakatan administration, these Umno leaders have always been hapless and helpless in defending themselves.

A MCA ex-assemblyman told FMT that it was unfortunate that the opposition was being dominated by Umno.

“Representatives from other component parties would surely have done better,” he said.

BN component parties were also unhappy with certain of Umno “racist” agendas.

For example, a Gerakan politician said Penang Umno’s action to give back the RM100 annual gift given by the state government to senior citizens on grounds that it was “duit haram”, was “an ill-advised political drama which backfired”.

He alleged that Umno had sponsored many street demonstrations over the past three years, including the one outside Komtar just four days after the last general election, through its Youth wing and several NGOs “for all the wrong reasons and purposes”.

Demonstrations by a certain Indian Muslim “Mamak” group led by Mohamed Ghani Abd Jiman championing Malay rights have also undermined Umno’s credibility.

“Umno-sponsored NGOs have even demonstrated to support the Internal Security Act when many citizens are strongly against the draconian law,” said a political observer.

Several BN leaders were also unhappy that these Umno-link NGOs even demonstrated for the formation of a royal commission over a sex video allegedly involving Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Baljit Singh, who heads the Penang Gerakan’s legal and human rights bureau, once condemned the demonstrations as “senseless”.

“They never demonstrated for the setting up of a royal commission of inquiry on corruption, financial scandals, deaths in custody and Interlok.

“But they want a royal commission on pornography,” said Baljit.

Perhaps realising all these disturbing developments, Koh finally decided that it was time for BN to stand as a united state opposition front to counter Pakatan.

As much as the jury is out on Pakatan’s performance, BN opposition show will also be under the spotlight from now until the next general election.

BN should stop dreaming about regaining Penang as yet. It should first deliver from the opposition bench.