A Ranking of BN’s Twelve Worse Political Disasters
By Malaysian Spring
Barisan Nasional is a natural magnet for scandals and self-inflicted public relation disasters, mainly due to its entrenched patronage politics (an euphemism for corruption) and its contempt for the public. The following is a ranking of one dozen worse political disasters which will drag BN down at the 13th general election in order of least to heaviest impact. This “dirty dozen” are selected on the basis of their deep effect on a wide segment of the population and the durability of their impact to last till the next election.
No. 12 – Death in Custody of Ananthan Kugan
At this level there are many competing scandals such as the theft of jet engines from the air force, the RM540 million commission paid for submarines and pointless ISA detentions of Teresa Kok and Sin Chew journalist Tan but none have the emotional impact of the death in custody of A. Kugan who was arrested as a suspected car thief in Jan 2009.
A government pathologist performed an autopsy and proclaimed that he died of water in his lungs. Dissatisfied, his family members demanded another autopsy which revealed that Kugan died of horrific beatings and torture which caused his kidneys to fail. After a long delay of 9 months and much public pressure, a lowly Indian police constable was charged with causing grievous hurt although the victim died and there were suspicions of others involved. Can you say scapegoat?
Kugan will not be the last to die in custody but he is the most widely publicized and has become the poster boy of the numerous helpless victims who die with shocking regularity in the hands of our law enforcement agencies.
No. 11 – Shah Alam Cow Head Protest
Race and religious baiting is nothing new with a party which leverages on racial and religious tension to maintain its power. In this category are Ahmad Ismail’s and Nasir Safar’s racist outbursts. The Umno controlled Utusan Malaysia frequently goes on a racist rant without any fear of sedition laws.
But come next election, Ahmad Ismail and Nasir Safar will be largely forgotten. The event which sears itself into the minds of voters is the cow head protest held at the Selangor State Secretariat over the relocation of a Hindu temple to Section 23 in Shah Alam. To drive home the insult the protesters which were widely perceived to be linked to Umno brought along a severed cow head, an animal which is sacred to Hindus.
This wasn’t the most damaging act.
Read more at: http://msian-spring.freevar.com/ranking.htm
