The least that can be said about PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's offer to stand against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in the Pekan parliamentary seat is that it has put a blow-torch to the trail of the BN supremo where previously the man was wholly impervious to challenges to set an election date and to debate.
Statue-like imperturbable was the PM before taunts from the opposition to dissolve Parliament and to set a timeline to the 13th general election; largely impassive, too, was he before the challenge of Pakatan Rakyat's head honcho, Anwar Ibrahim, to debate him.
But he can't pretend to ignore Hadi's willingness to contest him in his Pekan bailiwick and sustain confidence as drum major of a coalition that is heading into a pivotal general election; the unwritten rules of gamesmanship require that he, at least, welcomes the contest.
One of Pakatan's lions has hurled down a gauntlet which the PM has to pick it up, or he cannot avoid seeming rather too anemic to lead a ruling coalition in what is now, beyond doubt, a life-and-death contest.
The majorities Najib scored in Pekan in the last two general elections (22,922 in 2004 and 26,464 in 2008) render him well-nigh impregnable in his Pahang redoubt, so picking up Hadi's gauntlet cannot be precarious for him.
But once he does it, he may set in train a momentum that would throw into more unfavourable relief his dithering over an election date and his refusal to debate Anwar.
With spine-tingling polls near, electioneering gamesmanship can develop a momentum all its own.
In other words, Hadi has gained a psychological beachhead in the battle to flush out the PM from too cozy a reliance on the enormous advantages of incumbency afforded the ruling BN by its more than half-century long tenure.
San Choon vs Kit Siang
A general election is a collision between competing parties, not the war of attrition that the lead-up to it is.
When the stakes are a high as it is in this country's 13th electoral collision, psychological gamesmanship is as important an assist in the contest for advantage as ideological and rhetorical weapons would be.
One recalls the psychological ground gained by then MCA president Lee San Choon when he accepted DAP's Lim Kit Siang challenge to contest in the 1982 general election in an urban seat rather than in the semi-urban ‘safe' seats preferred by an MCA wary of going head-to-head with DAP in opposition-favouring urban wards.
San Choon surprised Kit Siang by electing to pitch his hat in Seremban, an urban bastion of DAP, where the MCA chief came up against the likable and popular DAP chairman Dr Chen Man Hin (left), presently the party's respected lifetime adviser.
Unbeknownst to DAP, San Choon, who held the labour portfolio in the federal cabinet, had in advance of the April 1982 election, persuaded many of his friends in the trade unions to move theirs and their members' voter registrations to Seremban.
In the immediate prelude to polling, then newly-installed Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad made a campaign appearance in Seremban where his shrewdly crafted slogan - "Dr Chen can shout, San Choon need only whisper" - helped to drive home the BN point that a vote for the opposition was a vote down the drain.
San Choon (right) emerged victorious in that cynosure contest of the 1982 general election by an 800-plus vote-margin that went to a second recount, thus ousting Chen who was unbeaten in the seat from the 1969 general election.
San Choon had gained for MCA a psychological boost through his victory which dented the hitherto invincible aura enjoyed by DAP in urban seats.
His win helped to plant the seed in the minds of urban voters that a vote for the opposition was an exercise in futility for they risked inviting government neglect of their constituencies by returning an opposition MP who could only be of "nuisance value" in Parliament.
A surprise from Hadi Awang
Although contrary to the ethos of parliamentary democracy, this strain of reactionary thought was difficult to counter in the era when BN enjoyed crushing majorities in Parliament and in state assemblies.
One of the benefits of the 2008 electoral tsunami is the deflation of this kind of thinking.
Head-to-head contests between head honchos of competing parties are not common in Malaysia's election history, the battle for Seremban in the 1982 and two match-ups in the 1990 general election - in Kit Siang versus Gerakan founder Dr Lim Chong Eu (Padang Kota state seat), and DAP's P Patto versus BN's S Samy Vellu (Sungai Siput parliamentary seat) being the exceptions.
Now with PAS supremo Hadi Awang wanting to proffer a ‘San Choon-like challenge' to PM Najib, the stage is set for a return perhaps to this high-voltage contestation.
For Hadi, this is certainly a surprise because he had earlier indicated he does not want to contest in the general election, the effects of the minor stroke he suffered a few years ago and a penchant for the quieter pleasures of fishing off the Terengganu coast must have factored in the intimation to retreat to the shadows.
Now, with uncharacteristic flourish, he has indicated that he is willing to beard the lion in his den. It is a challenge a dithering PM must tackle with aplomb he is not known to have.
Statue-like imperturbable was the PM before taunts from the opposition to dissolve Parliament and to set a timeline to the 13th general election; largely impassive, too, was he before the challenge of Pakatan Rakyat's head honcho, Anwar Ibrahim, to debate him.
But he can't pretend to ignore Hadi's willingness to contest him in his Pekan bailiwick and sustain confidence as drum major of a coalition that is heading into a pivotal general election; the unwritten rules of gamesmanship require that he, at least, welcomes the contest.One of Pakatan's lions has hurled down a gauntlet which the PM has to pick it up, or he cannot avoid seeming rather too anemic to lead a ruling coalition in what is now, beyond doubt, a life-and-death contest.
The majorities Najib scored in Pekan in the last two general elections (22,922 in 2004 and 26,464 in 2008) render him well-nigh impregnable in his Pahang redoubt, so picking up Hadi's gauntlet cannot be precarious for him.
But once he does it, he may set in train a momentum that would throw into more unfavourable relief his dithering over an election date and his refusal to debate Anwar.
With spine-tingling polls near, electioneering gamesmanship can develop a momentum all its own.
In other words, Hadi has gained a psychological beachhead in the battle to flush out the PM from too cozy a reliance on the enormous advantages of incumbency afforded the ruling BN by its more than half-century long tenure.
San Choon vs Kit Siang
A general election is a collision between competing parties, not the war of attrition that the lead-up to it is.
When the stakes are a high as it is in this country's 13th electoral collision, psychological gamesmanship is as important an assist in the contest for advantage as ideological and rhetorical weapons would be.
One recalls the psychological ground gained by then MCA president Lee San Choon when he accepted DAP's Lim Kit Siang challenge to contest in the 1982 general election in an urban seat rather than in the semi-urban ‘safe' seats preferred by an MCA wary of going head-to-head with DAP in opposition-favouring urban wards.
San Choon surprised Kit Siang by electing to pitch his hat in Seremban, an urban bastion of DAP, where the MCA chief came up against the likable and popular DAP chairman Dr Chen Man Hin (left), presently the party's respected lifetime adviser.Unbeknownst to DAP, San Choon, who held the labour portfolio in the federal cabinet, had in advance of the April 1982 election, persuaded many of his friends in the trade unions to move theirs and their members' voter registrations to Seremban.
In the immediate prelude to polling, then newly-installed Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad made a campaign appearance in Seremban where his shrewdly crafted slogan - "Dr Chen can shout, San Choon need only whisper" - helped to drive home the BN point that a vote for the opposition was a vote down the drain.
San Choon (right) emerged victorious in that cynosure contest of the 1982 general election by an 800-plus vote-margin that went to a second recount, thus ousting Chen who was unbeaten in the seat from the 1969 general election.San Choon had gained for MCA a psychological boost through his victory which dented the hitherto invincible aura enjoyed by DAP in urban seats.
His win helped to plant the seed in the minds of urban voters that a vote for the opposition was an exercise in futility for they risked inviting government neglect of their constituencies by returning an opposition MP who could only be of "nuisance value" in Parliament.
A surprise from Hadi Awang
Although contrary to the ethos of parliamentary democracy, this strain of reactionary thought was difficult to counter in the era when BN enjoyed crushing majorities in Parliament and in state assemblies.
One of the benefits of the 2008 electoral tsunami is the deflation of this kind of thinking.
Head-to-head contests between head honchos of competing parties are not common in Malaysia's election history, the battle for Seremban in the 1982 and two match-ups in the 1990 general election - in Kit Siang versus Gerakan founder Dr Lim Chong Eu (Padang Kota state seat), and DAP's P Patto versus BN's S Samy Vellu (Sungai Siput parliamentary seat) being the exceptions.
Now with PAS supremo Hadi Awang wanting to proffer a ‘San Choon-like challenge' to PM Najib, the stage is set for a return perhaps to this high-voltage contestation.For Hadi, this is certainly a surprise because he had earlier indicated he does not want to contest in the general election, the effects of the minor stroke he suffered a few years ago and a penchant for the quieter pleasures of fishing off the Terengganu coast must have factored in the intimation to retreat to the shadows.
Now, with uncharacteristic flourish, he has indicated that he is willing to beard the lion in his den. It is a challenge a dithering PM must tackle with aplomb he is not known to have.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for close on four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them. It is the ideal occupation for a temperament that finds power fascinating and its exercise abhorrent.
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