Umno, it’s time to stop gloating

The Malays use the parlance syiok sendiri to denote a situation where a person or a group of people glorifies themselves over things that only interest them personally or the group they represent.

Shah A Dadameah, Malaysian Mirror

Umno has a habit that is hard to break. It loves to gloat.

Take last month’s Manik Urai by-election, for instance. The Barisan Nasional, spearheaded by Umno, had narrowly lost the contest to PAS by 65 votes.

But it was so proud of the dents that it had made in a PAS bastion that it has not stopped talking about the ‘wind of change’ that is said to be sweeping in Kelantan now.

By extension, Umno feels the wind is going to blow west to Penang, where a contest will be held for the Permatang Pasir state constituency on Aug 25.

'Syiok sendiri'

So, who is impressed? Certainly, not PAS which has grown tired of the tune that Umno repeatedly plays whenever it sees a chance to bash the party.

The Malays use the parlance syiok sendiri to denote a situation where a person or a group of people glorifies themselves over things that only interest them personally or the group they represent.

But that is the way Umno works and it still does not see why it got kicked in the butt at the last general election and subsequent by-elections in the peninsula.

The bragging had started somewhere after the 2004 polls, when the voters gave the BN its biggest victory in five decades.

Thus, it was not surprising that Umno had continued to blow its trumpet in the run-up to the nation’s 50th birthday in 2007, about how it brought independence to Malaya and the pivotal role it subsequently played in the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

The gung-ho mood, however, did not trickle down to the masses, which could see that Umno and the BN were using the guise of nationalism to actually drum up support for their parties in the general election that was being planned in 2008.

At that time Kelantan was the only state that was ruled by a non-Barisan party and the coalition was so obsessed about wresting the seat from PAS that it neglected the inroads that the other opposition parties were making in other states.

The Barisan was just one seat behind PAS in the 43-seat Kelantan state assembly and Umno was sure it could take over the state government if it could get the people to accept its purported track record and capability to bring progress to the allegedly backwater state.

As it turned out, however, Umno’s share in Kelantan reduced to only five seats after the March 2008 general election and, worse, the mighty Barisan allowed four other states – Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Perak – to slip from its grip and into the hands of the tripartite opposition alliance of PAS, the DAP and PKR.

The three parties later coined the name ‘Pakatan Rakyat’ for their political collaboration and agreed that representatives of each party would be included in the administration of the states they rule.

However, three disgruntled state assemblymen in Perak later quit the alliance and pledged their support for the Barisan. This led to a series of dramatic turn of events that eventually saw the BN toppling the young Pakatan government in the silver state.

Notwithstanding this issue, which has yet to be fully resolved in the courts, the Pakatan went on to prove that it had the people’s support by campaigning for a thumping victory for their ‘mentri besar’ Nizar Jamaluddin in the ensuing Bukit Gantang parliamentary by-election.

But even though it was an embarrassing loss for Umno, the party turned around to boast that it had been able to erode much of the Malay support for the Pakatan and it was certain that the next time around in Bukit Gantang, the voters will favour the Barisan.

The only time after the last general election that Umno publicly showed its fear of being rejected was when the Penanti state seat was vacated by incumbent Fairus Khairuddin and a by-election was held there on May 31.

Not flattering reports

Umno’s boycott of the by-election led to an all-time low of voter turnout in the country’s electoral history. The party bounced with glee to say: “See, our support is so big there that when we did not put up a candidate the voters too stayed away.”

Now, Umno has a chance to prove that it has also a big following in neighbouring Permatang Pasir.

The Barisan, admittedly, is well-armed to handle the onslaught of its opponents, with the various liberal policies that marked the new administration under Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the 1Malaysia unit trust fund, among others.

Its ego boosted by the narrow win in Manek Urai, Umno has been working harder and smarter in Permatang Pasir to win the voters’ support and to deny PAS the only seat that it had held in Penang prior to the death of incumbent Mohamed Hamdan Abdul Rahman.

Permatang Pauh Umno division secretary Rohaizat Othman is the flag bearer for the Barisan in the by-election, where he is facing PAS state commissioner Mohd Salleh Man.

Media reports of the campaign trial had not been flattering to both sides.

Issues against the Barisan ranged from the alleged coup d’état that toppled the Pakatan administration in Perak and the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock to the fiasco of the Port Klang Free Zone project and the dwindling state of the economy.

On the other side, issues like the appointment of a Jemaah Islamiah member in a Penang municipal council, the Kampung Buah Pala saga, the beer issue in Selangor, the anti-corruption probes against Selangor executive councilors and the alleged defence by PAS of DAP insults against Islam give a picture that ‘not all is right’ in the Pakatan camp either.

And, on top of it all, is the continuing pandemic of Influenza A (H1N1) infections that no one could find a scapegoat for and the pros and cons of the Internal Security Act issue that continue to be debated.

So, what is left for the contesting parties in Pasir Permatang is just character assassination.

The most salient concern in the Barisan camp are the attacks against its candidate on the grounds that he had been struck off the Bar Council’s role as a lawyer.

Top two PAS leaders reconciled

On the PAS side, the party is fighting hard to defend insinuations that its candidate is a loser for having been defeated in previous elections that he had contested in.

The backdrop against which the Permatang Pasir by-election is being held is, therefore, different from that of Manek Urai.

Also, the Manek Urai had seen a dispute involving PAS spiritual advisor Nik Aziz Nik Mat and party deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa over a planned ‘unity government’ between the party and Umno.

But that is all over and both have already reconciled, with their factions coming together to tally behind PAS Penang.

Furthermore, Permatang Pasir has a mixed constituency, where 25% of the voters are non-Malays. This compared to the almost 99% of voters in Manik Urai being Malays.

PAS and its Pakatan allies are also buoyed by the fact that the parliamentarian in their area is the iconic Anwar Ibrahim, the Opposition Leader in the Dewan Rakyat and PKR de facto leader.

Permatang Pasir had also been in PAS’ clutches for 10 years and it will not be easy for Umno to knock it off the pedestal by just singing about the ‘wind of change’.

So, if the Barisan is treating the Penang contest as ‘continuing where we had left off in Kelantan’ then it is nothing more than an infantile whim.