Opposition win a clear signal
Losing three parliamentary by-elections in a row — first in Permatang Pauh, followed by Kuala Terengganu and now in Bukit Gantang, despite favourable conditions for the coalition, coming soon after the Umno general assembly where promises for change and reforms were made — cannot be taken lightly.
Zubaidah Abu Bakar, New Sraits Times
ONLY one message came from Bukit Gantang voters yesterday, the same one delivered more than a year ago — Umno and the Barisan Nasional must change.
A majority in the parliamentary by-election was consistent in the stand taken on March 8, 2008 when the ruling coalition was humbled in the 12th general election.
They voted BN out and when they had to go to the polls again yesterday following the death of MP Roslan Shaharum from Pas, the seat was returned to the party.
This time, it is Pasir Panjang assemblyman Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin who claimed the seat, a victory Pakatan Rakyat and its supporters see as vindication of his short tenure as Perak menteri besar before he was ousted in February.
Bukit Gantang, which had been an Umno-BN stronghold until 2008, has 55,562 registered voters, of whom 63.5 per cent are Malays, 27.1 per cent Chinese and nine per cent Indians.
A post-mortem followed by an action plan is what Umno and BN need to do immediately or the repeated warnings of "change or be changed" will come true when the coalition goes back to the people to seek a new mandate in the next general election.
It is not enough for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak alone to espouse the 1Malaysia concept to win back lost support.
Every BN component party, led by Umno, has to walk the talk. BN has to admit to many weaknesses and rectify them quickly.
Losing three parliamentary by-elections in a row — first in Permatang Pauh, followed by Kuala Terengganu and now in Bukit Gantang, despite favourable conditions for the coalition, coming soon after the Umno general assembly where promises for change and reforms were made — cannot be taken lightly.
Malay votes in Trong, the only BN-held state seat in the parliamentary constituency, may have been retained but the votes of non-Malays showed the opposite, including in the Kuala Sepetang and Changkat Jering state constituencies.
BN officials claimed the coalition had made headway in wooing back lost Malay support but this does not call for celebration as it was Umno's own votes that had gone to Pas in 2008 because members were unhappy with Datuk Mohd Azim Zabidi's candidacy.
In 2008, 52.6 per cent of Malay voters and 34.8 per cent of non-Malay voters chose BN.
Many questions demand answers, such as why the might of BN's machinery failed to wrest a former bastion from Pas.
Umno contingents from two states were given the task of taking care of voters in Trong and three states each were entrusted for Kuala Sepetang and Changkat Jering, and another eight states took charge of the 32 polling districts.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's visit to Bukit Gantang did not make the impact some Umno leaders had hoped for.
Neither did Nizar's purported derhaka, an issue that was played to the hilt.
Before Bukit Gantang voters went to the polls, political observers found it hard to imagine why non-Malay support for the BN could have increased since the March 2008 general election.
They argued that reforms in Umno and BN had yet to materialise and issues deemed racially biased had not been alleviated.
Pas elections director Datuk Mustaffa Ali said Umno was not able to capitalise on Nizar's alleged treason and attributed his victory to the combined efforts of Pakatan Rakyat component parties.
Analyst Dr Sivamurugam Pandian said earnest campaigning by Pas' non-Muslim Supporters Club and the DAP's strategy to tell Chinese voters that they had lost a state government with the BN takeover had worked in the opposition's favour.
"Nizar could also have won on sympathy votes," he added.
With another defeat in the Bukit Selambau state by-election yesterday, Umno and BN urgently need to take stock of their capabilities.
