{"id":1022,"date":"2009-10-14T01:27:26","date_gmt":"2009-10-13T17:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buletinonline.net\/v7\/index.php\/2009\/10\/bn-parties-at-the-crossroads\/"},"modified":"2009-10-14T01:27:26","modified_gmt":"2009-10-13T17:27:26","slug":"bn-parties-at-the-crossroads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/bn-parties-at-the-crossroads\/","title":{"rendered":"BN parties at the crossroads"},"content":{"rendered":"

KUALA LUMPUR<\/span>, Oct 13 \u2014 Umno may still be celebrating its spectacular win in a by-election two days ago, but its triumph is not shared by many Malaysians.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the party\u2019s leaders hail the win as a trophy to carry into Umno\u2019s annual assembly that begins today, some are less enthusiastic \u2014 even within the party. They believe there is still a strong anti-establishment feeling against the ruling party.<\/span><\/p>\n

Umno had two days ago stopped a losing streak when it won a by-election in Bagan Pinang in Negri Sembilan. After losing seven out of eight by-elections held since last year\u2019s general election, its candidate Tan Sri Isa Samad grabbed a landslide win against Parti Islam SeMalaysia\u2019s Zulkefly Mohamad Omar.<\/span><\/p>\n

The win raised Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak\u2019s hopes that it would mark a point of rejuvenation for the party. \u201cIt looks like they (the people) have confidence and trust in the BN,\u201d he said yesterday, referring to the Barisan Nasional coalition.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the triumph is coloured by Isa\u2019s tainted history: He was suspended for three years for buying votes in a party election in 2004.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf Umno becomes very passionate about the win in one place while losing in other areas…if we lose (sight of) our responsibilities, I believe that in the coming general election, we will not achieve a good victory or we will not win,\u201d former premier Tun Mahathir Mohamad was quoted as saying in a news website.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gerakan politician Hsu Dar Ren said the anti-establishment feeling was still strong. He believes the fact that Umno fielded a tainted candidate would be used against it in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

What the by-election has changed, however, is the dynamics within the BN\u2019s power-sharing arrangement. This is because Umno won the by-election without much help from its Chinese partner.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isa won strong Indian support despite the community\u2019s rejection of MIC, while MCA was struggling to cope after party delegates rejected its top two leaders three days ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isa\u2019s win clearly puts Umno in a decidedly stronger position in the coalition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some Umno warlords believe Umno\u2019s path to victory does not have to be hand in hand with its non-Malay components, suggesting that the party allocate fewer Malay-majority seats to non-Malay parties to contest in the next election.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kelantan prince, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, has also called for the resignation of MCA Cabinet ministers after the collapse of its leadership. Such calls will raise the pressure on Najib to go it alone, if necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe temptation for Najib to reach over the heads of the non-Malay component parties in Peninsular Malaysia will be hard to resist,\u201d wrote political analyst Ong Kian Ming in a commentary. He noted that this had also happened after MCA lost badly in the 1969 general election.<\/span><\/p>\n

Najib has already started to reach out directly to the minorities, observed political analyst Rita Sim. So far, however, there is no indication of how far Umno will push this strategy. The next general election is not due until 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking this approach has its risks. Sim noted that Najib\u2019s overtures worked with the Indians, because they are not self-sufficient in economic terms. The Chinese, on the other hand, remain sceptical, and may be harder to reach.<\/span><\/p>\n

A recent poll by Merdeka Centre showed that 68 per cent of Indians approved of Najib\u2019s leadership, and an equal proportion rejected the MIC. But the Chinese gave the lowest approval rating to the Premier. It could leave Malaysia even more polarised, Sim said. \u2014 The Straits Times<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 \u2014 Umno may still be celebrating its spectacular win in a by-election two days ago, but its triumph is not shared by many Malaysians. While the party\u2019s leaders hail the win as a trophy to carry into Umno\u2019s annual assembly that begins today, some are less enthusiastic \u2014 even within the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"better_featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}