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It has not been the happiest leadership transition for the ruling coalition. Khoo Boo Teik looks at the unusual position the BN is in, having lost four by-elections in the peninsula since the last general election.
At the heart of Pakatan Rakyat’s advances is a sea-change at the social level – a phenomenon which has been captured on blogs, websites, and Youtube.
Even if you’re not one to take pleasure in the pain of others, you’ve still to marvel at the present discomfiture of the Barisan Nasional, and especially the United Malays National Organisation.
Within a year of the 2008 general election, BN has lost 0–4 to Pakatan Rakyat in the peninsular by-elections of Permatang Pauh, Kuala Terengganu, Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau, each time by a larger losing margin. Of the four defeats, three were suffered by Umno, once at the hands of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, twice against Parti Islam.
Even BN’s single victory in a fifth by-election, in Batang Ai, Sarawak, starkly exposed the ruling coalition’s regional quandary. What sort of hegemon is Umno – which some of its leaders boasted could rule on its own –when it’s stalemated in the peninsula, its message is shredded, and its writ runs at the mercy of the fief politics of Sabah and Sarawak?
