ATM Machines in Hulu Selangor

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Apr 24, 2010

When you have a really big challenge – and a big name like Zaid Ibrahim to overcome, I suppose you also are forced to expend more of your resources to defeat him than might be otherwise necessary. The more I see how hard and desperately UMNO is sending out its foot soldiers and cronies, how desperately they’re luring the voters in Hulu Selangor, I am wondering if this is not a good sign after all.

By G. Krishnan

You’ve all read reports of the UMNO ATM machines in Hulu Selangor. No, these are not the regular ATM machines you find in the lobby of a bank or in a shopping centre. These are a different kind of ATM machines, lah. You can get cash out of these machines even if you have no bank account or ATM card. No need to have your pin number either. Even better, you don’t have to go looking for the machine. It actually comes to you! They have legs, they have arms, and they look like regular people – just like you and me. And of course the most amazing thing is they just give out cash. We’re not talking kacang putih amounts you know; this is real money.

Some of the poor people being confronted by these ATM machines are seeing amounts that they don’t even see in a month let alone a year. When you have a really big challenge – and a big name like Zaid Ibrahim to overcome, I suppose you also are forced to expend more of your resources to defeat him than might be otherwise necessary. The more I see how hard and desperately UMNO is sending out its foot soldiers and cronies, how desperately they’re luring the voters in Hulu Selangor, I am wondering if this is not a good sign after all. Let me explain what I mean.

I know there are many – far more so than we might think – of us out there who find the UMNO money machine to be a despicable ploy that amounts to nothing more than vote buying. Those who understand that UMNO is hollow in principles and is devoid of ideas for moving the country forward understand very well that it has the money to splash, and hence manipulate the voters with cold hard cash. This is not a new UMNO method and it will also not be the last time we see it.

The fact that UMNO has not been able to assume an easy win in Hulu Selangor and is having to fight for ever single vote, its victory – if it wins in Hulu Selangor – would have come at a heavy price. From all indications, UMNO has had to dole out a lot of cash. Call it what you may, but the fact remains that if UMNO wins this seat, it would have come at a much heavier price than many of its other so-called victories in the past. This UMNO victory, as much as they will gloat about it, will come at a huge cost to them.

And that will be a silver lining in this episode.