Sunday August 22, 2010
Battle for Selangor hots up
Insight
Joceline Tan
Events in Selangor over the last few weeks may have resembled a James Bond movie but it is actually a very real fight for control of this premier state.
TAN Sri Khalid Ibrahim may not have the James Bond look but the events erupting around him over the last few weeks have been as fast paced and dramatic as a 007 movie.
There has been the discovery of a hidden camera in the Selangor Mentri Besar’s office, a bullet in the mail for a Selangor MP, allegations of corruption and deceit flying around and a sandstorm blowing in the background.
And Mr Bond is never without the mandatory villains who, as far as Khalid is concerned, have to be Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo and Datuk Noh Omar.
But for some, Khalid seems more of a floppy-haired Austin Powers trying to find his mojo, rather than Mr Bond, international man of mystery with a licence to kill.
Unfortunately, what is happening in Selangor is no movie.
The race for control of Selangor has begun in earnest. Pakatan Rakyat has arrived at the critical mid-term of its administration while Barisan Nasional’s Selamatkan Selangor campaign is heating up.
Umno has recovered from its inertia and there is a sense of purpose about winning back Selangor.
A well-matched battle lies ahead. Given that, the spate of issues, from sand-mining to cronyism, could not have come at a worse time for the state government.
The dust from the Ronnie Liu episode is still swirling and the issue will get bigger before it subsides because some of these letters of support apparently went to questionable businesses like slot machine operators.
Said a Pakatan insider: “Pakatan in Selangor is under siege, partly as a result of their own doing and partly because of pressure from Barisan. Something will have to give soon.”
Umno, said the insider, can only get stronger from here unless Pakatan quickly comes up with significant and visible action.
Pakatan’s branding as a clean coalition that advocates good governance is under scrutiny.
“It has to quickly do something to demonstrate its policy of zero tolerance for corruption. The MB should also quickly introduce one or two people-friendly initiatives to soften public opinion,” said the Pakatan insider.
House cleaning
One of the more drastic measures being floated in Pakatan is a house-cleaning exercise that includes a state executive council reshuffle.
The current state exco was formed in a hurry. Khalid had picked the PKR exco members without consulting his party, and a few of them have turned out to be problematic.
A reshuffle would enable Khalid to phase off those bogged down by controversy and personal baggage and bring in those who have shone as state assemblymen.
There is also pressure on Khalid to quickly come up with a code of ethics for his administration.
Some want him to go even further by getting the Government out of business, that is, dissolve the GLCs or government-linked corporations. They said some GLC directors are paid between RM200,000 to a couple of million ringgit a year and the money should be diverted to people-oriented projects.
But whether Khalid will respond to the new pressure and feedback is anybody’s guess. The former Guthrie big gun has a mind of his own or what some call a “hearing problem” when it comes to party dictates.
“I like my MB, it’s just that he is not good at politics. But I think people still like him very much, he has done better than the previous regime. We’re happy with the direction he has taken although some expectations have yet to be met and there are still things we want to achieve,” said Tony Pua, the MP for Petaling Jaya Utara.
Pua readily admitted that the Ronnie Liu issue did not reflect well on DAP but pointed out that overall there had been less hanky-panky.
Or, as Khalid said in an interview, he would always be able to do better than his predecessor. But as some of his own party people pointed out, anybody could do a better job than the former mentri besar.
Dr Khir has bristled at such remarks and the two have been trading verbal blows, flowered with stinging Malay proverbs.
“They are still struggling as a government but they have some smart, hard-working and sincere YBs (Yang Berhormat),” said Juhaidi Yean Abdullah, a former aide to an Umno minister who now runs a restaurant.
Juhaidi, who is also chairman of a shelter home in Subang Jaya that takes in abandoned babies and teen mothers, has singled out the area’swakil rakyat Hannah Yeoh as one of them.
“She has been helping us and even sourced out special milk powder for some babies who were lactose intolerant. They are the new breed,” said Juhaidi.
Pakatan has its share of black sheep but it also has some stand-out YBs who reflect the times.
For instance, Pua is one of the most-watched faces in Parliament today, the way Umno’s Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah and PAS’ Datuk Husam Musa were noticed when they started out as MPs. Barisan, despite or because of its long tenure, seems to be short of such contemporary voices.
“Umno is not short of talent. We have our Tony Puas and Nik Nazmis (PKR assemblyman Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad) but do you know how difficult it is for a younger person to move up in Umno?” said Subang Umno Youth chief Datuk Harrison Hassan.
While the senior generation in Umno is still humming the same old tune, the younger set like Harrison and his Petaling Jaya Utara counterpart, Latt Sharizan Abdullah, have tuned in to the new political landscape.
This cohort of young, educated Umno politicians talk of new politics for the Malays. They have friends from all races and they know Selangor’s urban electorate are not afraid of change and want the best from their politicians.
“Selangor is going to be even more complex than before the 2008 elections. Voters demand more of us, they want less rhetoric and more action,” said Latt Sharizan.
Discerning electorate
The Selangor electorate is the most sophisticated and discerning in the country. The high Internet penetration means that they are going to be bombarded by all kinds information from the factual to the absurd. Of the 59 state seats, 60% are solidly Malay-majority constituencies while the rest are either Chinese-majority or mixed seats.
The signs in many places are that the Malay ground has begun to turn in Umno’s favour.
Harrison admits some people give him funny looks when he says Barisan can win back Selangor.
He is not talking out of turn because Barisan, which has 20 seats, needs only nine more to regain power. But as any politician would know, it looks simple but can be so difficult.
“We hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up,” said MCA central committee member Loh Seng Kok who is from Selangor.
But the Chinese make up a sizeable proportion of voters and Barisan will need their support to do well.
“The keris rhetoric had its greatest impact in Selangor. The Chinese middle class and professionals are still lukewarm about us but they are independent, not mindless voters. They are critical of wrongdoing whether in Barisan or Pakatan,” said Loh.
The new breed of YBs have set a trend. Other things being equal, candidates, or rather the quality of candidates, will be important in Selangor.
The Umno political bureau recently discussed the need for new faces without baggage for the next round.
Pakatan will be scouting for better quality candidates following its experience with defections. DAP is said to be on the lookout for Malays with credentials, especially in Perak, so that they do not have to turn to PAS or PKR for a mentri besar in the event of victory.
A great deal of what happens next in Selangor depends on Khalid’s follow-up to feedback and advice. He will have to focus on the job hence the concern that he may be eyeing the PKR deputy post. Not many people think he can juggle it.
Moreover, the sodomy trial looks like it will finally take off again now that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has almost exhausted his string of applications.
Anwar’s attention will be on the trial or as one PKR man put it: “It is like a fish trying to wriggle off the hook, you can’t think of anything else but getting free.”
There is a bright side, though.
The world, according to a visiting Indian guru, is not going to end in 2012 and that means the general election will take place and life will go on. He dismissed the end-of-the-world scenario as a Hollywood movie and claimed there would be more spirituality and love in 2012.
The dear guru has evidently not been through a Malaysian general election which tends to have lots of everything except love and spirituality.
For sure, the battle for Selangor will not be a love fest.
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Why is the fight for Selangor is only about Selangor UMNO Vs Pakatan Rakyat? What about Selangor BN?
UMNO has two other very active partners in Selangor BN, namely MCA and MIC. The relationship of UMNO with the coalition partners is good. In fact, the April Hulu Selangor by-election was about UMNO defending the decision to appoint MIC Information Chief P Kamalanathan and later very hard fought for BN to win.
This analysis sends a strongt signal that Selangor BN is all about UMNO and other component parties are so ineffective that when their non involvement is not really missed. Selangor MCA, MIC and Gerakan may be slighted since The Star highlighted their observation and analysis in the open depicts the apparentness of the below-average performance of these Non UMNO Selangor BN components.
PM Dato’ Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak as the Selangor UMNO Liaison Chief understands the importance of Non Malay roles in the Selangor politics. More than 24 seats in the Selangor DUN are not Malay majority. It means that Non Malay BN component members have a herculean task to win the confidence and support of the Non Malays, particularly the Chinese. UMNO could not possbibly work on these seats without the Non Malay BN component parties, particularly the MCA.
These areas are constituencies within Klang Valley such as Petaling Jaya Utara, Petaling Jaya Selatan, Subang, Kelana Jaya, Ampang, Serdang, Puchong, Klang, Shah Alam and others, which now being classified as part of ‘Greater Kuala Lumpur’ under one of the National Key Economic Area focus. The importance of MCA in working within areas is very much recognised by PM Najib, now starting to bounce back after the 12th GE defeat. As such in the recent Cabinet reshuffle, Selangor MCA Boss Dato’ Donald Lim was given the honour to be appointed as a Senator and Deputy Minister.
However the recent MCA leaders talking aloud their Chinese Chauvinism stance apparently becoming somewhat DAPish did not go down well with UMNO Leaders, which include DPM and Deputy President of UMNO Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd. Yasin. MCA President Dato’ Seri Chua Soi Lek got a lot to do to mend the PR with UMNO.
For The Star to present the fight for Selangor is UMNO centric, then it suspiciously in abstract illustrating that some quarters within the MCA-controlled largest English daily wanted to wedge the divide further between UMNO and MCA. If this is true, then The Star actually has a strategic agenda to prolong the Pakatan Rakyat control of Selangor, despite their on going multiple level issues and inter and intra-party squabbles.
Bring back to spirit of the 1946 nationalism
Today marks the 53rd celebrations of Merdeka. Its time the spirit on the birth of this nation is relived and kept alive, as a motivation for us to move forward.
The next year will mark the 500th anniversary of a Malay Empire on the Malay Peninsular being invaded and overan by a European nation using force. By early 20th century, Johor was the last state that when under the British Administration. In all, the Malay Peninsular had been under European (with a brief period 3 years 8 months under Japanese and 3 weeks under the Malayan Peoples’ Anti Japanese Army) occupancy for 446 years.
The spirit of nationalism became an integral part of the Malays to emancipate themselves being colonies of several states for over 400 years. Names like Dato Maharaja Lela, Dato Sagor, Laksamana Muhamand Amin, Dato Naning, Dato Bahaman, Tok Janggut are the legendary icon for th struggle.
The move to request for Merdeka was solidified after the first General Election where British allowed 52 out of 98 membership to the Federal Consultative Council be contested by the rakyat. Political parties staged their candidates in this first free democratic process to elected the representatives of the rakyat.
UMNO, which successfully campaigned to fail Malayan Union on 1 May 1946. The overwhelming support that was amassed amongst the Malays had never been seen before. The Malays, then comprises mainly by small holding farmers, odd job labourers, teachers and low grade civil servants gave the trust for aristocrats and technocrats to take the lead. The spirit of nationalism unprecendently emancipated the Malays and that motivated the masses to move further.
UMNO later in the 1950s fostered a co-operation with MCA and MIC to form the Alliance Party and contested in thw 1955 General Elections. The Alliance Party swept 51 of the 52 seats contested .The sole seat that lost was a PAS seat. That gave UMNO President Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra the mandate to assume the Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya position and form the first self-ruling government by the rakyat. Depsite being a blue blood, Tunku embraced the spirit of Malay nationalism and drove the struggle there on with wit and wisdom.
This mandate allowed Tunku and his government to have a position to negotiate for independence. First was with HRH Rulers. Since British gave HRH Rulers the ‘first right of refusal’ to take over the governance of Federation of Malaya, Tunku had to convince HRHs to give up that right in favour of Westminster-style constitutional monarchy.
The ‘first right of refusal’ offered to HRH Rulers is not without precedence. First of all, British took over the management of most Malaysian states and were ‘annexed’ as British colony when HRH Rulers signed treaties. When Malayan Union was failed, British negotiated with HRH Rulers and the Treaty of Federation of Malaya (Perjanjian Persekutuan Tanah Melayu) came into force on 1 February 1948.
The Federation of Malaya Constitution that came into force upon Merdeka on 31 August 1957 evolved from the Treaty of the Federation of Malaya. Specific articles like Article 152 and 153 which provided special rights to the Malays were enacted in the spirit of HRH Rulers role in the Treaty of the Federation of Malaya and rights as the hereditary rulers of the land. At the enforcement of the Treaty of the Federation of Malaya, only the Malays are ‘subjects of HRH Rulers’ where else majority of the Chinese and Indian ethnics are considered ‘stateless persons’.
UMNO President Tunku who managed to convince HRH Rulers for the terms of the independence and brought the mandate of the rakyat of the Federation of Malaya agreed unconditionally to accept almost 1 million of these ‘stateless persons’ as citizens of soon to be the new born sovereign nation.
This is the ‘sacrifice’ of Tunku as the leader of UMNO and the Malays. During the 1955 General Elections, UMNO contested in only 35 out of the 52 seats (which translated to only 67% of the seats contested) despite 84% of the registered voters are Malays, as opposed to 11% Chinese and 3% Indians. UMNO managed to advocate the Malays to vote for the Alliance Party and gave MCA the 15 seats and MIC 2 seats in the Federal Consultative Council. UMNO only assumed 6 out of 10 Cabinet post.
Tunku via UMNO managed to convince the Malays to actually come out and voted the MCA candidates at the time where the Communist Rebels, which more than 95% of them are of Chinese ethnicity. His wisdom overpowered the hurt, pain and anguish that the Malays endure, especially persons involved in the security forces (majority of them are Malays) to give the MCA the votes they needed.
Nationalism was the fundamental of UMNO’s struggle for the Malays. The spirit of nationalism amassed the Malays to come out in full force which failed the Malayan Union. The same spirit was the basis when HRH Rulers agreed on the Treaty of the Federation of Malaya on 1 February 1948. The nationalism spirit that drove the Malays towards ‘Merdeka’ was also the basis of the strong mandate for the 1955 General Elections. Nationalism was the spirit when HRH Rulers consented for Federation of Malaya to be governed by the rakyat. Tunku also based the spirit of nationalism when he agreed on the unconditional citizenship of almost 1 million stateless persons.
The spirit of nationalism is the key success factor of the nation’s security ever since the struggle against communist armed rebellion officially declared on 16 June 1948 till the present fight against terrorism by the security forces.
The spirit of nationalism was also the underlying factor the New Economic Policy introduced in 1971 as a solution to transform and re-engineer the majority of the underdeveloped Malaysians, mainly in the rural areas. This socio-economic development plan was the key factor of the stability and harmony that enabled Malaysia to have economic growth and progress, till present stage and all the achievements throughout. This holistic stability, harmony, progress and growth was the underlying factor of Malaysia’s ambition in 1991 to be a developed nation by 2020.
Nationalism is the spirit that brought the rakyat forward in taking charge and deciding the fate of the nation. Nationalism is the ideology which will carry Malaysia through the next 50 years of nationhood. Its time to bring that spirit that emancipated Malaya (Malaysia) from the shackles of being colonised, fighting an imported armed rebellion and driven Malaysia and Malaysians to what she is, today.
SELAMAT MENYABUT HARI KEMERDEKAAN ke 53