The Bagan Pinang victory
What comes next for Umno, PAS and the nation?
“As Mahathir says, corruption thrives because voters keep supporting leaders who have been found guilty.”
By Shanon Shah, The Nut Graph
AFTER losing in all of the by-elections it has contested in the peninsula since March 2008, the Barisan Nasional (BN)’s Bagan Pinang win must taste like ambrosia. The BN’s candidate from Umno, Tan Sri Isa Samad, polled 8,013 votes against the 2,578 votes garnered by PAS’s Zulkefly Omar. In fact, Isa’s majority of 5,435 votes far outstrips the 2,333 majority enjoyed by the BN in the March 2008 general election.
The BN’s stunning performance in Bagan Pinang on 11 Oct 2009 is nothing short of a landslide. Many are wondering what this says about the BN and the PR, and more importantly, what it says about voters.
Leaving that question aside for the moment, Isa’s increased majority must also be a relief for BN chairperson and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. After the fielding of corruption-tainted Isa drew ire from none other than Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Najib can now sleep easy for a little while longer.
Najib must also be particularly relieved about the postal votes — a whopping 3,521 of the 4,611 votes cast went to the BN.
Corruption allegations notwithstanding, Isa was a candidate whose undeniable popularity among locals would have held him in good stead. He is, after all, a towering figure in local politics here. And Umno and the rest of the BN knew this from the beginning.
As Umno Youth chief and Rembau Member of Parliament Khairy Jamaluddin tells The Nut Graph: “Local politics trumps over national concerns. There is a disconnect between the national consciousness (regarding Isa’s money politics charges) and local realities in politics,” Khairy explains.
“As a former menteri besar, Isa has a good track record. He knows people here. He is that rare Umno leader who has the ability to put people at ease.”
In short, Isa charmed his way out of the stigma of corruption and abuse of power. Well, charm was only part of the equation. He also rode on several government functions to campaign — which goes against the ethics of election campaigning. And all of this prompts Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, in charge of PAS’s Bagan Pinang by-election machinery, to call this “a very sad day for the nation”.
He tells The Nut Graph in a phone interview: “As Mahathir says, corruption thrives because voters keep supporting leaders who have been found guilty.”
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