UMNO IS DOOMED, says Umno blogger unhappy with Khairy, Shahrizat wins

When Pakatan Rakyat won the popular votes during the 13th general election, UMNO bloggers were quick to point out that in the ‘first-pass-the-post” system, what matter is the number of parliamentary seats, not the votes.

When Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahrizat Jalil both retained their positions respectively as UMNO Youth chief and Wanita chief last weekend, blogger Syed Akhbar Ali now saw it fit to raise the question about popular votes obtained by each contestants in UMNO polls.

In a blog posting, Syed charged that there was a “huge cover up brewing inside UMNO” if the number of votes obtained for each contesting candidates is not disclosed.

“The mainstream media is crowing Khairy’s win as an absolute win, as though the challengers did not get a single vote. This is the furthest thing from the truth,” argued Syed, a staunch supporter of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Syed, who blogs at Outsyed The Box, was clearly unhappy with the victory secured by Khairy, said UMNO’s latest voting system was akin to electoral college system and implied that it did not represent the wishes of the majority.

“No matter how many votes are cast, each division counts as just one vote. There are 191 UMNO divisions. If a candidate wins 97 divisions (just more than half of 191 divisions) he or she is declared the simple winner. So the largest "number of votes" any candidate can win is 191 (representing 191 divisions),” he explained.

As such, he argued that Khairy could have lost the popular votes despite winning in a division if all the votes obtained by Khairy’s contenders were revealed.

Syed was also offended by Khairy’s remarks saying he would have secured an easier victory if he had used the “right-wing” formula. Responding to his victory, Khairy had also described his victory as “as a triumph of progressive ideas over those espoused by party conservatives.”

“Why did Khairy say ‘Jika saya mahu menang dengan selesa’ (If I want to win comfortably)? Meaning it was not a ‘kemenangan yang selesa’ (comfortable victory). So what is the popular vote count?

This is where the huge cover up will begin - I think. They are not going to make the popular votes known. The same argument applies for Shahrizat,” he said.

With “tainted candidates who have no talent” like Khairy and Shahrizat triumphing and cases such as missing ballot papers, missing names in booklet and shortages of ballot papers affecting UMNO’s election system that could lead to manipulation, Syed had only this to say: “Whatever the case UMNO is doomed.”

Echoing Syed was PKR women chief Zuraida Kamaruddin, who said Shahrizat’s victory had sent a wrong signal to the people.

“Is this the kind of message UMNO wants to give to people that it is okay for a person who linked to a scandal to hold position and become leader of the country,” she said, referring to Shahrizat’s link to the National Feedlot Corporation scandal.

Also joining Khairy and Shahrizat in victory last weekend was Masjid Tanah Member of Parliament Mas Ermieyati Samsudin, who emerged as the new UMNO Puteri chief by defeating her opponent Jamilah Hanim Othman.