How to survive a BN defeat at the Polls

By Little Bird With Talons

As Raja Petra says, the next General Election may be held in March 2008. Or it may be held towards the end of 2008. It cannot be held off much longer than that. Whatever the date, the BN has lost substantial support among the Indians, the most hardcore BN supporters to-date.

Acknowledging the problem, MIC Youth chief SA Vigneswaran has been quoted in the media as saying, “We in the MIC do not want Indians to cast protest votes in the next general election. We want the community to continue to support Barisan." Vignes you may be too late.

The BN has also lost the support of many Malays, including many UMNO members. If we read the Blogs of UMNO members and UMNO sympathisers like Kadir Jasin, Sang Kelembai, Ruhanie Ahmad, Datuk Kamal Amir, Rocky's Bru and others, we will see that many Malays too have become fed up with UMNO.

The Chinese are really pissed off at the present Government. They do not believe in any of the statistics being manufactured by the Government especially the 'feel good' numbers being churned out by Bank Negara and others. No one is buying the propaganda.

UMNO has evolved. It used to be the United Mamaks And Nanas Organisation. It is no more that now. Now UMNO stands for Untuk Melayu No Otak or U.M.N.O. This new U.M.N.O. is behaving like a headless chicken. Indeed the chicken does not have a head at all. A Chinese contractor from Johor almost fell down laughing when the chicken's head said that the flood problem could be solved if all the rivers were straightened. We have thousands of crooked rivers in the country but they don't all get flooded.

Whatever they do seems to backfire. First the PM said 'don't challenge me'. But he got challenged anyway. So he arrested five Indians under the ISA and framed attempted murder charges against 31 other Indians. Now the 31 have been released. Nothing will happen to them. Obviously their challenge has been successful. The five others under ISA will get released soon because Karpal Singh has pointed out that the PM made another mistake in detaining them for two years, minus a cure period of 60 days that is normal under the ISA (according to the law).

The Government also received too much negative publicity over the 'let's douse them with tear gas' caper. The foreign media showed peaceful protesters being treated like animals on the streets of Kuala Lumpur.

Since taking over the PM's job four years ago, the PM has made no new economic initiatives – other than the fake development corridors. Just this week the media has reported that the double-tracking project from Ipoh to the north will be implemented at a cost of RM12.5 Billion. Saudara Kim Quek has done an excellent analysis of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu's revenues in comparison with the RM12.5 Billion double tracking project from Ipoh to Padang Besar. Quek says that KTM's total revenue is RM288 million. This is only revenue, before expenses. After expenses, KTM makes losses. That is why KTM is still available for sale to any fool for just RM1.00. KTM is what can be termed a non-profit organisation. It never makes a profit.

Quek estimates that revenue from the Ipoh-Padang Besar sector is RM60 million. Again, this is only revenue. It does not mean profit. Just like YTL's 'vely, vely crever' proposal to build the fast train to Singapore on a Private Finance Initiative where YTL would only be contractor and operator, leaving the U.M.N.O. Government as the Operator (and swallower of losses) Tan Sri Syed Mukhtar Bukhari will also build only and transfer the asset ownership of the RM12.5 Billion white elephant to the U.M.N.O. Government. Our grandchildren will bear the losses through taxes. The ROI or return on investment from this doomed project will be negative. The U.M.N.O Government sudah mati akai – they are brain dead. They do not know what to do.

Over in ECER, Norwawi Affendi has reiterated that the Government will spend RM122 Billion over the next 12 years to develop ECER. That means spending RM10.0 billion a year. A map of ECER shows massive development projected for Pantai Sepat, which lies on a huge island just off Kuantan – facing head on to the monsoon driven South China Sea. Every fisherman in Kuantan knows that you can only build anything on the side of the island facing the mainland, which is sheltered but terribly muddy. The beautiful coastline facing the open sea is uninhabitable because it faces the brunt of the monsoon for four months. That is why on Pantai Sepat there is nothing other than a few Malay houses and cows.

All the fancy boat piers will not work. The monsoon will smash the boats to bits. Has anyone ever heard of something called the Kuantan Port? It was built facing the open sea. After 30 years few people even know it exists. Kemaman has a better chance of being successful because it has a beautiful natural deep sea harbour.

So, to make a long story short, no one is going to spend RM10.0 billion a year for the next 10 years in ECER, NCER or Iskandar.

Even if they have all the projects properly lined up, where is the money going to from? Before this, Nor Mohd Yakcop, the 2nd Finance Minister, used to say 'we have money from here, money from there, etc.' Until he had to borrow RM2.7 Billion from the Chinese to build the 2nd Penang Bridge. People asked Nor Mohd if we have money why did you borrow so much from the Chinese just to build a bridge in Penang? So how is the U.M.N.O. Government going to fund the RM122.0 Billion for ECER? Mana ada duit? So it's not going to happen. These are just gimmicks to pull the wool over the kampong peoples' eyes. Also to con the U.M.N.O. party members.The ahli parti Untuk Melayu No Otak. Siapa Melayu tak ada otak, sertailah U.M.N.O. dengan segera.

Just like in 1969, the BN is going to lose big time in the next general election. They will still form the government but they may lose the two-thirds majority, lose Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and maybe even Penang, and suffer reversals in Sabah and Selangor. Pas will make more inroads into Johor.

What will happen if the BN loses the two-thirds majority and loses a few states? Looking at the past as proof, the BN will throw a big fuss to frighten people. They may even declare an Emergency and rule the country through a junta (Majlis Gerakan Negara or Mageran), which they did in 1969. This is the real threat to the security of the nation. As Raja Petra has said, the Elections Commission Chairman, Tan Sri Rashid, has said his job is to make sure the Malays do not lose the political power in this country. What he really meant was U.M.N.O. No one really cares about the Malays.

Now they are matai akai – brain dead. They do not what else to do to win back support. Maybe before the next general election the Prime Minister will announce a 100% income tax exemption – but beginning from 2009. This simple trick may win the Chinese votes. Tapi Melayu tak bayar cukai pun.

So what should we do? The best thing is for everyone to cast their votes for the Opposition. Any Opposition will do. I will even vote for PAS. And then go home quietly and don't do anything about it. No need for victory parades, no need for shouting in Parliament. No need to insult anyone. Let's just cast our votes and then go home quietly and wait for the results. If the results say the BN has lost, let's go about our business quietly.

Do not give any opportunity for U.M.N.O. to brandish their really short keris (malu lah – senjata Melayu bukan saja pendek, tapi tumpul dan bengkok-bengkok.) Do not give U.M.N.O. any opportunity to let loose the Pekida 'tiga line' gangsters, the U.M.N.O. Putra Mat Rempit gangsters, Khir Toyo's Javanese gangsters in Selangor, etc.

And everyone should start talking about this freely and openly. U.M.N.O. is now totally bankrupt. The Malays are not getting any bigger share of the cake. Duit sabsidi pun dah tak guna. The cost of living has gone up so much, even the salary increments do not mean much.