BN’s offer: Money and madness

PM Najib is forced to shower the rakyat with crumbs of goodies to obtain votes because the people are fed-up with BN's underhand tactics.

COMMENT

The Malaysian political scenario has taken a turn towards madness in recent weeks. Consider these three instances:

1. Former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Rahim Noor labelling Kelantan Menteri Besar and PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat as “bapak kafir”;

2. A Malay non-governmental organisation whose members held a mock funeral rite in front of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s residence; and

3. Protesters making a nuisance of themselves in front of Bersih chairperson S Ambiga’s house.

The three major races are being attacked and this definitely highlights the success of the 1Malaysia slogan.

However, the biggest mistake of the three incidents is the one committed by the former IGP.

Attacking Nik Aziz is the biggest faux pas (pun intended) so far. As Nik Aziz is a very well-respected ulama, this attack on him will be viewed by many as disrespectful and downright insulting.

Umno has blundered big time by attacking not only a religious figure but a popular religious icon who is well-liked by people from all walks of life regardless of their religious beliefs.

Nik Aziz is humble and simple and Umno’s credibility and honour has now gone down the drain with this latest attack. Has Umno’s strategy advisers lost their marbles?

Why is Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak keeping quiet? Why does he not put a stop to all this madness committed by his goons? Clearly Umno’s antics have spiralled out of control.

Yes, with all these recent blunders, all the major races need to re-think their support for BN. The only ones who will vote for BN now are their cronies and the instant-noodle Malaysians who have been given MyKad at the drop of a hat.

BN is going to lose a lot of support due to these brainless misdeeds not to mention the sex-attacks on PKR leaders Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali. Therefore it is obvious that BN is getting crazier by the day. Everyday something stupid is started by BN or their lackeys.

Money and madness

Soon the citizens are going to get very angry and very fed-up with BN due to these underhand tactics. Perhaps this is the reason why Najib has to shower the rakyat with crumbs of goodies in order to obtain votes.

Looking at the full view of Stadium Bukit Jalil for Umno’s 66th Anniversary Celebration, the crowd there was less than 100,000 and a generous estimate would be 80,000. Thus, there are only two things that BN can offer the rakyat: money and madness.

And after they win at the polls, there will only be madness. Certainly it is beyond any sane comprehension what is going on with BN and their cohorts.

With the BN people getting nuttier by the day, Najib has to shore up his own popularity in order to get the votes. It cannot be denied, though, that he is popular among some segments of society notably the corporate and business cronies, Felda settlers and rural folks.

If he is supremely confident of his popularity, he will no doubt be dissolving Parliament before June 5 to pave the way for the general election to be held by the end of June. If not, then the polls will most likely be held in September after goodies have been doled out to the Malay voters especially the rural folks who are staunch supporters of Umno based on these two reasons:

1. Only Umno can champion the cause of Malay Supremacy; and

2. Without Umno the Malays will lose their rights, privileges, benefits, etc.

PAS’ hardwork

The Malay mindset has been conditioned to worship Umno since the British colonial era and thus it is extremely difficult to break this mindset. PAS is doing the utmost to educate the Malays but it takes time.

If not for the tireless efforts by PAS, the opposition would not have won five states in the previous general election. It is also due to PAS that BN is not confident of winning the two-thirds majority this time around; hence the move in giving instant citizenship to migrant workers and putting their names into the voter rolls in order to obtain their votes.

PAS has been telling the Malays again and again that their rights have been enshrined in the Federal Constitution and therefore they can never lose their rights and this message from PAS is slowly gaining ground among the younger generation.

Besides the issue of Malay rights, PAS’ collaboration with DAP has also been made a great issue by Umno. Again PAS leaders have gone to great lengths to explain that PAS collaborates with DAP because to fight for justice, fairness and good governance are all in line with Islamic teachings.

Many Malays have difficulty in understanding why PAS must work with DAP but when one brings up the issue of why Umno must work with MCA, they are immediately silenced.

This shows that in Malaysia one can never run away from the politics of race where obtaining votes are concerned.

All this madness has been perpetuated by the BN race-based component parties. Only with Pakatan Rakyat is there any hope of stopping these race-based games.

Selena Tay is a FMT columnist.