‘Empress Dowager’ to decide polls date?

There is some talk that Najib would not be the only one to decide when the next general election will be called.

COMMENT

According to one of this columnist’s journalist friends from the alternative media, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and the “Empress Dowager” are involved in a date-tussle.

In political terminology, the term “Empress Dowager” is applied to someone who is actually holding the reins of power and it can be used to refer to either a man or a woman.

But first here is some information about the real Empress Dowager.

In Chinese history, Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) was the one wielding power “behind the curtain” for half a century.

She was born into a Manchu noble family and became a palace lady at the age of 17, becoming the favourite of Emperor Xiafeng. When he died in 1861, she put her six-year-old son on the throne as Emperor Tongzhi.

Tongzhi died in 1875 at the age of 20 but without an heir. Cixi then put her four-year old nephew, Zaitian, on the throne as Emperor Guangxu.

During the reign of these two emperors, Cixi was the real power behind the throne. Being shrewd and cunning, she manoeuvred her court officials against one another so that her power would never be threatened. She also had a fiery temper and loved extravagance and was a spendthrift .

Back to Malaysian politics, there are rumours that the “Empress Dowager” wants the 13th general election to be held before March 8. Why March 8? Well, this was the date of the previous general election in 2008.

And the “Empress” thinks that any date after March 8 will give the impression that BN leaders are afraid and cowardly besides being lacking in confidence. Therefore, by hook or by crook, the polls must be held before March 8.

And here comes the tricky part as the Water Snake enters into the equation because the Chinese Lunar New Year is from Feb 10 to 24. This means that the Snake has effectively sealed off those two weeks in February as polls-campaigning and polling itself cannot be held on those dates.

To hold the polls before March 8, Parliament has to be dissolved by mid-January for the election to be held in early February or else BN will miss the boat and the earliest date available is March 9.

The Pakatan rally

The only thing that can stop the dissolution of Parliament next week is to have a massive turnout for the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat (People’s Uprising Gathering) on Saturday (Jan 12), also known as KL112.

This will then push the dissolution of Parliament to Feb 25 as BN may get jittery because of the huge crowd.

Polls in early February will also hinder those Chinese working in Singapore from returning home to vote as they will only be taking leave during the Chinese New Year proper. Therefore the turnout on Jan 12 can influence the date of the 13th general election.

On the other hand, Najib will prefer the general election to be held after all the BR1M payouts have been made and that is after mid-March.

As he is the one who dissolves Parliament, he will be facing a lot of pressure from the “Empress Dowager”. So how now?

Will the rakyat’s voice on Jan 12, with the help of the Water Snake, throw BN’s plans into disarray?

We will know soon enough. The coming Water Snake year will be filled with sudden twists and turns. Also, as it is the snake in the water, it represents hidden dangers that are not easily spotted.

One thing is for sure: this year is guaranteed to be more interesting than the previous one.

Selena Tay is a DAP member and a FMT columnist.