‘Pakatan’s campaign smart but unethical’

BN leaders acknowledge Pakatan Rakyat's campaign against BN as smart, but label it "manipulative" and "misleading".

PETALING JAYA: Several Barisan Nasional leaders have acknowledged Pakatan Rakyat’s campaign against ruling coalition BN as smart, but described it as manipulative and misleading.

BN leaders were today responding to Umno’s Saifuddin Abdullah’s recent statement that the opposition’s campaign against BN was “very smart” and “very successful”.

Kedah Gerakan Youth Chief Tan Keng Liang today agreed with Saifuddin, but added that the campaign was “manipulative” and “misleading”.

“What Pakatan is doing is a smart move, but they’re actually manipulating human feelings and nature… they know what people like to hear, so they say things that people desire,” Tan told FMT.

“When you make promises that people want to hear, they tend to believe the promises as good and that it may come true. The pertinent question is ‘are those promises going to be fulfilled?’,” he added.

Tan said that though Pakatan was not at liberty to fulfill their promises on a federal level, they were far from success even on state level.

“Look at Kedah when it was under PAS. They promised not to raise the water tariff but they ended up increasing it in Kedah; up to 100% in 2010. This is a clear-cut breach of promises,” he said.

“Secondly, they said they would practice open tender for government projects but as seen in Kedah and even Penang, multi-million ringgit projects were awarded without open tender,” he added.

Despite acknowledging that Pakatan’s campaign was “smart”, Tan accused Pakatan of preaching without practice and described their promises as “not ethical”.

“Definitely they are smart, they know what people want. What they preach need not be fulfilled. They may be smart, but not ethical,” he said.

Penang MIC treasurer Henry Benedict Aasirvatham shared the same view as his peers, and lauded DAP’s successful campaigning in Penang.

“In Penang, they have done really well against us. This was the reason why MIC was not able to succeed in getting the two state seats (Bagan Dalam and Perai),” he said.

“Pakatan has done a good roadshow. The general public in Penang is really against us and right now, MIC has to double our efforts to win back the hearts of the Indians,” he added.

Henry admitted that MIC’s biggest weakness stemmed from within the party itself, and said a reform was needed before it could focus on winning back Indian voters.

“Many have left and lost hope in MIC, and we want to bring them back. We are now focusing on strengthening the party,” he said.

“Only when the party is strong, the people will come back to us.”

‘What has Pakatan done for Malaysia?’

Meanwhile, MIC vice-president SK Devamany disagreed that Pakatan’s campaign had been successful per se, and contributed its improved performance to “weaknesses in the system”.

“I don’t think their campaign strategies were much more effective, but they were successful in being able to embed the concept of change in the minds of the people,” he said.

“But this was because of the paradigm shift around the world. Any anti-establishment movement would be successful. What happens is, the soil is fertile and ready for change… fertility comes from weaknesses in the system,” he explained.

“Issues of corruption, transparency, equality… are all ripe for people to work on. It has made it easier for Pakatan,” he added.

Umno’s Syed Ali Alhabshee said Malaysians have been sharing the benefits of the BN administration since independence while Pakatan has done nothing for the country.

“We are where we are now because of BN. They (Pakatan) have done nothing but oppose and say bad things about independent agencies and tarnishing the country’s image,” he said.

“In BN, we are building up the country. What we have today is all because of BN. Everybody has to accept that without BN, we are not going to be where we are today,” he added.

Syed Ali said that if BN were truly corrupted as claimed by opposition, “we would be still stuck in the 1960′s, not be where we are now”.

“We are one of the most successful countries, so we have to acknowledge what BN has done. In Malaysia, we get everything. Everybody shares its wealth and yet they are still trying to tarnish our image,” he said.

“To me, it’s not fair. When you speak about corruption, the PM is looking to help. We are fighting corruption. You need to give us time to come up with something good for the country.

“Everybody is sharing what the government has done. The opposition has done nothing,” he said.