Umno's last-mile tactics: CASH, THE FINAL OPTION

Prime Minister Najib Razak knows he cannot hope for a miracle anymore. Everywhere around the nation, people are starting to 'bangkit' or rise to question his administration. Rather than vote for his Umno party, they want to topple his government and give their support to a new regime. It really serves him right to wait until a situation like this has arisen. He can put a bold face on it but his refusal to dissolve Parliament and call for the country's 13th general election is the last straw.

The Opposition has put up a tremendous effort standing their ground and withstanding the onslaught of a massive government machinery deployed to whiplash them into surrender. But Anwar Ibrahim and the Pakatan Rakyat are now poised to create history. Of course, how Malaysians will really vote come polling day remains to be seen but go around the country, stop at its coffee shops, listen to the lectures of the village ustaz (religious teachers) and it is clear. Everyone or almost everyone in the country thinks badly of Umno and Najib.

Last-mile dangers

Sad to say, Najib being Najib is oblivious. Instead of pausing to double-check if his tactics are working, he just plows on without bothering to heed anyone or to question his advisers.

His advisers tell him this is most the crucial stage and he has to produce some serious issues to change the minds of the people, especially the Malays, who being the last to embrace the the Opposition's reformist message, are turning away from his Umno-BN coalition with a vengeance. So perhaps out of desperation, for there are few logical explanations, the Umno organs have gone on another misguided 'sex sex sex' binge.

Carrying their flag is of course blogger PapaGomo and on the cards to be defamed are Selangor chief minister Khalid Ibrahim and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah.

Mind you, 11th hour sex-smearing and gutter politicking can be a potent tool. When Tengku Razaleighi headed Semangat 46 in the 1990 general election, his Gagasan Rakyat coalition was poised to deliver a huge blow to then Umno president and prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. But the night before polling day, all the television channels showed a video clip of Ku Li dancing the Sumazau dance on stage with several Kadazan-Dusun leaders in Sabah, wearing the headgear with a cross on it.

The cross was taboo to the Muslim electorate and the video clip was shown repeatedly that night. So the Malays, who to be fair weren't really so keen for change yet but were merely angry with Mahathir, decided to play it safe. Not many believed Ku Li was an apostate just because of the cross, but it was just the reason they needed to stick with the status quo. As a result, the Gagasan Rakyat did poorly and Semangat 46 managed to win only 8 of 180 seats.

Gus Dur, the late ex- President of Indonesia, also faced the same fate in his bid for a second term in power. The night before polling day, a photo of him in short pants and another picture of him in the similar clothing sitting closely side by side to a younger women, allegedly his mistress, were splashed all over the front pages of the mainstream newspapers. That's how Gus Dur ended up another victim in the high-stakes no-holds-barred world of dirty politicking.

Najib too has these sort of ideas under his sleeves.

Najib's ideas and the Umno 'think tanks'

In keeping with his Umno lineage, the 'story lines' that Najib can be expected to use against the Opposition would be race and religion. And of course, the top favourite Umno topic of conversation -  sex! Najib is hoping to convince the Malays that if PR wins, not only would their rights and special status as Bumiputeras be abolished, but poor morals and promiscuity would also doom Islam as the religion of the Federation.

Najib might even produce “evidence” of plans to make Malaysia a republic! Already, he is trying to blame Anwar for being the mastermind behind the Lahad Datu intrusion. He will also continue to tarnish the image of the Chinese-based DAP by portraying its leaders as chauvinistic, while PKR and PAS were DAP lapdogs.

Najib could also cook up stories that DAP leaders - Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng and Karpal Singh - have a secret agenda to ensure that the Chinese dominate Malaysia if PR wins.

Najib would go all out to convince the Malays that under Pakatan Rakyat with DAP having the upper hand, the Malays would end up second-class citizens like their brethens in Singapore or the Malay members in the DAP itself.

Of course, this would mean that Malay reserve land would be a thing of the past and Islam would not have any special status anymore. Najib can convince the Malays that PR will impose restrictions on various public or communal Islamic activities.

And by the way, when it comes to sex scandals, even PAS Spiritual Adviser Tuan Guru Nik Aziz  and PAS presidenti Abdul Hadi Awang won't be spared. Hadi has already been accused of a tryst with a "virgin" girl and Umno is bound to rehash the scandal to pull in the crowds to their ceramahs (rallies).

The MCA may also be saving the best for last. Their chief target, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng already had a tough time dousing talk he had fallen in love with one of his young and lovely female political aides. The last time, the MCA made Guan Eng's wife Betty Chew real mad with the scandal. It is for sure they will rehash it again.

So when PKR sec-gen Saifuddin Nasution recently revealed the threats by Umno-BN agents to bombard theceramah circuit with video lucah or XXX-PLUS porn tapes, it came as no surprise to the seasoned observers. Despite Umno's denials, few would believe Najib's camp does not already have several videos showing the ugly side of key PR leaders - those they wish to defeat the most - as perverts!

Remember what Ghafar Baba said: Vicious cycle of poverty

When the late Tun Ghafar Baba exited the Cabinet (before Mahathir appointed him to be his Deputy), he gave several talks putting forth some very pertinent questions to his Umno colleagues that are relevant even to this day.

Ghafar asked, “What is so special with the Bumiputers status of the Malays when they are still poor and need help? What has UMNO done thus far? When some thing is special, this means that it is the best of everything, above average and more than others? But what do the Malays have now?” he added.

In other words, how can the Malays be the ‘tuan’, the Master, when even the top Umno leaders depend on business tycoons, who are mostly Chinese 'towkays'!

Indeed, how many times have we seen on TV or the newspapers tycoons like Ting Pek Khing consorting with with Mahathir after landing one government project or another? How many times has Francis Yeoh of the YTL construction empire entertained Mahathir with million-dollar concerts - some of which were even telecast live on TV? Remember Pavarotti at the Pangkor Island Resort?

Then, have we not seen Abdullah Badawi with Vincent Tan in cordial and jovial mood? And of course, Badawi's son-in-law's connections with various other business tycoons as well?

Did not Najib award a football gambling license to Vincent Tan but was forced to retract it after rousing public anger? Didn't Najib also award the extension of the Putra LRT to George Kent, a firm controlled by his golfing buddy and school mate Tan Kay Hock?

What do all these tell us?

Well, the fact is clear for all to see. The Bumiputera status and Ketuanan Melayu rhetoric are just veils to confuse the minds of the Malays so as to ensure they vote Umno, allowing Umno leaders to continue to reap all the benefits. The ordinary Malay folk will only continue to feel the pinch due to the sad lack of real programs to alleviate their plight and to improve their economic skills.

As long as Umno is still in power, the Malays will always remain poor and this is designed by Umno to ensure continuous Malay support. It is a deliberate vicious cycle of divide-and-rule and poverty, where the rich will be allowed to get richer (and fewer in number) and the poor poorer (and larger in number).

But what is in store for the Malays if PR wins?

Anwar has said the Malays will not be neglected. But his words, admittedly, are not enough. Pakatan's policy is actually quite clear - the economic pie to be shared based on needs and that in itself means the Malays - forming the bulk of the nation's needy - will get the largest slice. No one has any quarrel with that! Not like under Umno now, where critics say their elite leaders get almost everything and the rest, the crumbs.

Lim Guan Eng, as Penang Chief Minister, too has shown by many gestures that the Malays will not be left out economically if PR comes to power. The worry the Malays feel more are related to Islam and Chinese chauvinism. The DAP's resistance to hudud and Lim's own boastful ways have closed many doors especially in the rural Malay areas.

PAS has helped to correct this 'mis-perception' for the DAP. And ironically, Perkasa too has helped to provide a balance for the DAP! Most of the Malays in the kampongs (villages) are simple folk, they don't like extremism - whether in the form of overly confident Chinese leaders or overly racist Malay leaders.

PR too can play the sex card

Meanwhile, the father of Saiful Bukhari has already started pulling in the crowds for the Opposition, starting in Penang. Saiful is of course the man who falsely accused Anwar of sodomising him, an allegation which not only the courts have rejected but which his own father has also said was not true. The denial will help boost Anwar's already resurgent image.

Will the PR throw the sex card back at their BN rivals? PR leaders certainly have more than enough Umno tid-bits to chew on and entertain the crowds with if they choose to.

For the record, there are more Umno than PR leaders accused of being involved in illicit affairs. Najib for one is most notorious for his sex scandals. Rahim Thamby Chik, the former Malacca chief minister and part of the Datuk T trio, was charged for raping an under-aged girl. Information minister Rais Yatim was accused of maid rape. One Umno leader has been accused of groping a woman in the lift, while Rural minister Shafie Apdal is alleged to have splurged millions on starlet Zahida Rafik.

Not to mention, the Johor Umno leader accused of having a gay relationship. While in Lahad Datu, its assemblyman Datu Nasrun has been accused of an having an affair with another man's wife. The woman was an employee in his law firm. Shahidan Kassim, the ex-Menteri Besar of Perlis, was also accused of having an affair with a young girl and making her pregnant. The list just keeps going on.

As for the rest of BN, apart from MCA's Chua Soi Lek, MIC's Speaker for Perak also recently got into trouble for sexual impropriety.

Although it may look like Malaysians have for the most part made up their minds who to vote for, last-minute change of mind is ever possible. Sex, scandal and bribery are the most effective tools and Umno has many, many 'think-tanks'.

Cash the final option

If all else fails, Najib is expected to bring out the cash - tons of it. His target will not just be the mak cik and pak cikvoters but the Opposition MPs. These can be bought within minutes of the announcement of the GE13 results. The going price is said to be at least RM5 million apiece. It is likely to get much higher.

Money is nothing to Umno. The story of how one Umno leader in Kelantan put a pile of money worth RM1 million on the table during a ceramah there is still making the rounds in cyberspace.

It appears Najib believes that everyone has his or her price. Till now, Umno-BN has not even been able to produce a manifesto. They will have no choice but to 'buy' the election.

Najib may be right but it is up to Malaysians to prove him and Umno wrong. Money is not everything. So stay vigilant, be steadfast and always be skeptical of what is and will be aired on BN-controlled TV, especially during the last hour!

Malaysia Chronicle