No inkling of truth in Ku Nan’s words

Contrary to what Tengku Adnan claims, Umno-Baru does not have our interests at heart.

COMMENT

When Umno-Baru politicians, like Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor speak, you wonder why millions of Malaysians voted BN yet again. If you need enlightening, the answer is that at GE13 and in previous elections, BN cheated.

The fuss over the indelible ink is damning to BN. If the ink was indelible and lasted a week, the army would not have been able to vote many times. The police would not have been able to vote many times. The illegals and foreigners would not have been able to vote many times. The Umno-Baru runners would not have been able to vote many times.

Without the extra votes, Umno-Baru would have sunk quicker than a faulty submarine.

Umno-Baru and BN cannot depend on the Chinese votes – a community which is cowed into submission, by the spectre of May 13.

Umno-Baru cannot depend on the rural Malays either. During the Baling riots of 1974, rural Malays protested about rising prices, hunger and other social problems.

As Umno-Baru couldn’t depend on the support of either the Malays or the Chinese, they needed to import a new breed of working class people from overseas, the legal and illegal immigrants, to vote for BN.

The latest revelations about the indelible ink used in GE13 show that both the Election Commission (EC) and Umno-Baru are prepared to deceive the public. When caught red-handed, they backtracked and told more lies. Their deceit ranged from blaming Allah, to placing the fault with the Opposition coalition.

If the EC has been swindled by the ink supplier, why won’t they reveal the name of the company? Why are they keeping the test methods that were used to test the ink’s suitability a secret?

Why has the cost of the ink risen drastically? Over three successive GEs, millions of ringgits of taxpayers’ money have been squandered, on indelible ink. This is no coincidence. The debacle with the ink is a deliberate and coordinated ploy by the EC and Umno-Baru to manufacture a win for BN.

As usual, the leader of the BN government, Najib Tun Razak remains silent about the repeated waste of public resources. He cannot denounce the EC because he assumed power through electoral fraud.Najib has also kept quiet about the haze enveloping Malaysia. He has not said a word about the deaths in police custody, nor has he voiced an opinion about the child conversions.

God’s will

The EC chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof feigned sadness that the indelible ink used in GE13 was easily washed off. He told the Malay daily Sinar Harian that the indelible ink had been tested prior to use.

He said, “If people ask me now, what is the saddest thing in my life, I would answer: ‘Indelible ink’.

“On the much-awaited day, the power of Allah is greater when the ink could disappear after being washed several times. Where is the mistake?” (sic.)

Despite his sacrilegious comments, Abdul Aziz has not been investigated for sedition.

Utusan Malaysia’s weekend newspaper quoted the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan saying that BN was ‘fated’ to win GE13, because God had willed it.

He said, “In short, fate and God’s will determines everything.”

Abdul Rahman is not a prophet and has no right to make divine prophecies. Despite his blasphemous remarks, Abdul Rahman has not been censured.

Senior Umno politicians are now back-pedalling and covering-up their lies over the ink fiasco. Days after GE-13, senators and ministers were already reneging on their promises.

One senator said that he would need five years to solve the stateless Indians issue. A minister said that car prices could only come down in five years time. Coincidentally, GE-14 is in five years time.

Tengku Adnan now says that Malaysia did not need to use indelible ink, because it is not a third world country. He said “…the opposition wanted it…”

He should have said that the rakyat wanted it!

Since when have Umno-Baru politicians acknowledged the needs and wants of the Opposition or rakyat? The rakyat wanted free and fair elections, but were repeatedly denied them.

Tengku Adnan then expressed concern for the rakyat. He said that the chemicals contained in the ink could be harmful to health.

Has he or his party showed any concern for the effects, on the rakyat, of the gold mining in Raub or in Sarawak? Does he care about the deleterious effects, of the Lynas rare earths plant, on citizens in the vicinity?

Why has he not punished the companies which have close links to his party and which are believed to have created the haze in Sumatra? The community in Pusing, near Ipoh are still suffering from the radiation poisoning caused by the Mitsibushi Asian Rare Earth (ARE) company. Communities are neglected, but Tengku Adnan has the audacity to say that “the government cares.”

Rule your own destiny

He also claimed that the use of the MyKad was sufficient to prevent aliens from voting in the Malaysian elections, and that we did not need to use indelible ink.

Why has Umno-Baru denied the allegations of cheating in GE-13, the inducements, in the form of money and citizenship for foreigners, to vote for BN and the planeloads of immigrants being flown in to boost BN’s chances in GE-13?

Malaysia is fast becoming a place ordinary Malaysians do not recognise. Bangladeshis, Burmese, Indonesians, Filipinos and Pakistanis occupy areas of this nation and many of us feel that we are the strangers in our own country.

Work is given to these foreigners who are prepared to accept depressed wages, at the expense of ordinary Malaysians.

Umno-Baru is only interested in long-term political survival and short-term economic advantage. Contrary to what Tengku Adnan claims, Umno-Baru does not have our interests at heart.

The Umno-Baru politicians have become filthy rich at the expense of the rakyat. They feel that they should not be made to give up the plunder that they believe is rightfully theirs.

They are now creating a new breed of pseudo Malaysians to keep them in power. The broken promise of the “indelible ink” was just a ploy to placate the angry rakyat.

Is there a glimmer of hope? Yes. There is soon to be a by-election in Terengganu. We have seen the evil perpetrated by Umno-Baru and BN politicians. These politicians will stop at nothing to maintain their opulent lifestyles. Allegedly some will not balk at assault or even murder.

Now, some of you have the power to change and improve your lives. You will have the chance to show Umno-Baru the door in the next by-election, but will you?

Have you the courage to rule your own destiny and throw off the chains of Umno-Baru slavery which feel so comforting, because they are familiar?

Mariam Mokhtar is a FMT columnist.