BN’s irrational behaviour

In its desperation to retain Putrajaya in the next polls, the ruling coalition is showing signs of going haywire.

COMMENT

It is extremely clear now that Barisan Nasional is very desperate to win the 13th general election and its desperation has gone totally irrational until it has lost its senses. These are among the few examples of its senses going haywire:

1. Making of a film on May 13 to demonise DAP;

2. Misuse of the National Day celebrations;

3. Downplaying the serious issue of crime rate;

4. Continuous harping on the Talam Corporation issue and creating an issue out of water in Selangor;

5. Trying to drive a wedge between PAS and DAP over the hudud issue;

6. Kelantan oil royalty payments issue; and

7. Ignoring Bersih’s demands and allowing in more foreign workers.

First and foremost, what is the point of making a film on May 13 and, in the same breath, hollering 1Malaysia to the masses? This shows that the BN federal government has never been and will never bother about national unity. 1Malaysia is only a slogan to woo the gullible.

With regard to the 55th National Day celebrations, the government is misusing the whole celebration as a platform to campaign for the 13th general election. This means that BN is desperate enough to use anything and everything as a campaign platform and it is also very obvious that the lines between government and party are blurred.

As for the crime rate, the government is trying to drum into the rakyat’s heads that the crime rate has been reduced. In fact, the desperation of keeping the crime rate low has gone on to such stupid lengths that even the police have said that the best way to avoid snatch thefts is not to carry bags. Are they not supposed to make it safe for us to carry bags?

Item No 4 is wherein BN, in particular its lackey MCA, is trying to nail Pakatan Rakyat by creating two major issues, namely Talamgate and Watergate which will only complete its course after the 13th general election.

On item No 5, which is the sticky hudud issue, the mainstream media keeps highlighting that DAP’s Karpal Singh is deadset against hudud while ignoring the same about MCA.

What is worse is that MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek has insulted Islam by questioning why shops in Kota Baru, Kelantan, were closed during the Aidilfitri celebration (in 2010) and also made fun of PAS candidate Normala Sudirman who had refused to shake hands with men during the Tenang by-election (in January 2011).

Gullible voters

Umno, which claims to be the champion of Islam, has always remained silent and failed to rein in Chua.

In fact, hudud will never be implemented as PAS will never be able to obtain the numbers in Parliament to amend the Federal Constitution. This is because the BN MPs themselves, together with the Sabah and Sarawak MPs, will oppose it.

Hudud is really a non-issue but a BN ploy to con the gullible voters by creating unnecessary worry among the non-Muslims. The hudud issue is much ado over nothing.

The sixth item, the Kelantan oil royalty payments, certainly takes the cake in highlighting what the federal government thinks of us – pretty stupid. This issue has long been outstanding but only now does Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak deems it fit to set up a committee to review the payments.

With the general election around the corner, is this an election ploy to woo the Kelantan voters?

Item No 7 on the voter rolls and foreign workers is the worst issue as the government is definitely thumbing up its nose at the rakyat. Legal action initiated against Bersih showed how much respect the government has for a people’s movement.

So far, Najib has remained absolutely silent with regard to the clean-up of the electoral roll. This means that the forthcoming polls will be the dirtiest ever in Malaysian political history. Is a major fraud in the works?

What can the awakened civil society do? Volunteering in the various electoral watchdogs is one thing but what can you do to prevent the foreigners who have obtained MyKad from voting? After all, those who have got MyKad are considered legitimate voters. And they have the right to check their names in the electoral rolls and, if their names are there, they have the right to vote as they are already citizens albeit via a very fast-tracked process.

If they all come out and vote, we, the genuine original citizens, are done for. In the case of Selangor, even if one third of them came out to vote, our genuine votes will be negated.

Observers

The only thing this columnist can suggest is to request international observers to be present during the whole election campaign.

If victory is achieved by the ruthless powers-that-be via fraudulent means, the only thing to do is to embarrass them worldwide.

Another major ramification of this issue is what happens if these fast-tracked Malaysians become unemployed due to the global economic downturn projected to take effect next year.

Officially, there are 2.3 million foreign workers but what about the unofficial figure? Too scary to contemplate!

At the end of the day, BN’s desperation is evident for all to see except for those who are deaf, dumb and blind. And BN’s desperation may very well drag the nation into a maelstrom of destruction.

Selena Tay is aFMT columnist.