A strong team to help Najib win big

 

PERCEPTIBLE PATTERNS: We now have an idea on the key strategies and missteps

Rashid Yusof, NST 

POLLING is 17 days away. The keener observers would probably be thinking of a quick visit to Gelang Patah to witness this series' biggest fight -- Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman versus Lim Kit Siang.

Over the last few days, the DAP's chess-move has morphed beyond a fleeting shimmy as previously suggested.

Relocating the "king", Lim Kit Siang, as in chess of course, to Gelang Patah was soon followed by moving another piece, Teo Nie Ching, out of Serdang.

This manoeuvre saw her hurtling down the North-South Expressway to Kulai. Does this mean more inter-state movements to follow?

As it turned out, DAP's Johor assault must have rattled its allies, Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Pas which had been exaggerating, under the circumstances, its chances in Johor.

Unwittingly for DAP, the Ghani-Kit Siang contest will accentuate the battle lines of a doggedly oppositionist culture against a tradition of producing credible policies and accumulating goodwill and a track record.

Ghani helped to conceive the South Johor Development Region, the precursor to Iskandar Malaysia, the brightest regional-growth showcase.

While it is folly to rush to making mega judgments, it is true that Ghani's task is to defeat Kit Siang.

He was making this point yesterday, maintaining that he was no longer the candidate for menteri besar, a post he held since 1995, freeing him to focus on his task.

This compares with Kit Siang who will be holed up in Gelang Patah with almost no free time to campaign in Penang, where BN has a distinct strategy.

As one tactical detail leads to another, BN is digging in for a protracted battle to regain Penang, which means it is not going to agonise over a narrow miss this time around.

Nationwide, the return of Datuk Yap Pian Hon sums up the magnitude of surprises. He is set to campaign feverishly in Serdang, a constituency "vacated" by DAP's Teo.

Yap is known for being unaffiliated to any of the teams or factions in MCA, removing the spectre of green-eyed spoilers and screechers derailing his candidacy.

Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, the former menteri besar of Terengganu, heads back to a parliamentary constituency. Umno had, in the post-November 1999 elections, turned to Idris to realign its focus after a shock defeat to Pas in Terengganu.

Idris had been a deputy minister serving in the same ministry as Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed (Entrepreneurial Development).

They are somewhat similar, the two. A think-tanker in mode, Idris went big -- but almost always with minimal fuss -- on education and housing when BN-Umno rode back into power in Terengganu in 2004.

In composing the list of candidates, Najib must have taken a multi dimensional outlook.

ONE, he knows he must secure a comfortable majority. To help him deliver a big win, Najib who had risen through the ranks since his days as deputy chief of Umno Youth, has redrafted experienced hands.

They range from Datuk Osman Abdul (who was a giant killer in 1990, defeating the late Datuk Fadzil Noor in Pendang), Datuk Ishak Ismail (Lenggeng) to Datuk Zubir Embong (Kuala Terengganu). Durable winners like Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad and Tan Sri Shahidan Kassim were assigned new roles. Isa goes to a new parliamentary seat, Jempol, while Shahidan returns to Arau, the parliamentary constituency he first won in 1986.

TWO, Najib has at the same time entered into a regeneration exercise, which is why there are 80 per cent of new faces in the key battlegrounds of Selangor and 62 per cent in Penang.

Understandably, it has been most adventurous in states under Pakatan rule.

A glance at the Kedah selection reveals ambition unfettered by the hold of incumbency.

The line-up includes ex-Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital surgeon Dr Zaki Zamani Abdul Rashid, who is fielded in Kuala Kedah, private medical practitioner Dr Mansor Abdul Rahman (Sik) and former Universiti Malaya Perlis (Unimap) deputy vice-chancellor Prof Ismail Daud (Merbok).

THREE, this is also about fashioning the likely composition of the cabinet, hence, perhaps the return of personalities such as Idris.

At the other corner, Pakatan Rakyat has long promised to parade a cast far more impressive than those fielded in the 2008 general election when some greenhorns and dubious characters had won unexpectedly.

The full line-up has not been named. There is indeed space still, and time, for the three parties to produce a blockbuster cast.

To plan ahead and bring in fresh young talent, one must be able to persuade those who had been around like forever to make way.

Alas, the blustery about capturing Putrajaya has had its impact on the usual suspects within Pakatan, everyone of whom has dug in, in hopes of reaching Putrajaya.

With hogging and overstaying a norm, no one dares to think of regeneration or preparing a strong pool of potential cabinet ministers.

Granted Tony Pua has his admirers only to be overwhelmed by the size of reservoir of talent BN has accumulated.