I will ask for the cheque to be prepared!
If money cannot get votes, what do you have left?
Mr Prime Minister you said it loud and clear to the people. You vote my candidate in and I will help you! A very basic tit for tat situation that leaves no doubt to the people of Sibu that they need to teach you a lesson in eating humble pie. A lesson in the possibility that maybe, just maybe, money cannot buy everything.
By Steadyaku47
I watched the spectacle that Najib made of himself just the other day in campaigning for the Sibu by-election. Wiping spit and sweat off his face as he horse-traded with the people of Sibu. “If Robert Lau becomes the MP on Sunday, on Monday I will ask the cheque to be prepared. Do we have a deal or not? We do! You want the RM5 million, I want Robert Lau to win,”
You help me and I will help you! You scratch my back and I will scratch yours! The audacity of our Prime Minister to horse-trade with the people he has sworn to serve! Why? Has he taken it upon himself to “turun padang” – down to the level of those corrupt government officers and PDRM who is so fond of reminding us that to help us, we must first help them? It brings back unpleasant memories of my time in the immigration department at which I have spent a good many hours trying, without any success, to get PR status for my family.
I remember that one day when the Napoleonic immigration officer across the counter arrogantly told me that my wife is to be “denda” the sum of $1000 a day for each of the three days that she had overstayed. It took a lot of control for me to not spit in his face. With all the self-control I could muster, I turned and walked away. I then went to get a “support” letter from one UMNO big wig which “selesai” the matter without any “denda” being imposed.
As I watched our Prime Minister sweating away on center stage, it brings back to me those unpleasant encounters I have had in the past when corrupt mata-matas happen to find me making minor traffic infringements while they are doing their “cari makan” rounds. Their routine is precise. “Lesen Encik … Encik dari mana, … ke mana … kerja apa” … out with his “summon book” and the start of his scribbling to nudge us closer to the “selesai” talk. Now we start to do the asking … “Tolong Datok … or as the Chinese say “Latok”… And he comes back with the “Macam mana saya nak tolong ni?” Sound familiar?
With the policeman, the deal is done there and then. He gets his money and we are off. With Najib, he does not know if his “offer” is good enough for the people to accept. Whether they want more or whether they are prepared to get a summon or even go to jail (as the policeman had threatened to do if no “selesai” takes place) … but Najib is game. He makes the RM$5 million offer and promises to deliver if the other party reciprocates by giving the Barisan Nasional candidate their votes. After the offer, Najib must have felt it was a done deal after all it was a promise that would cost a few million ringgit to deliver and all they had to do was “pangkah” Najib’s man. But, as in all deals with Barisan Nasional, it is always a one way trade. Damn if you do and damn if you don’t. But now we know that the people of Sibu could not be bothered if they are damned even as they said “NO”.
With Najib, as I watched him wipe away the spit and the sweat of his pudgy face, my initial compulsion was to turn away from the spectacle of our Prime Minister telling the Rakyat that they must help him first before he can help them. But, like watching an accident as you drive past, even as your head wants to turn away from the blood and the gore, you will find yourself continuing to look and watch this sad man trying to win over voters the only way he knows how – by buying their votes! But as we now know, to no avail because when I awoke on Monday morning, DAP had won.
What now, Mr. Prime Minister? Because if money cannot buy votes then UMNO is in trouble! If UMNO is in trouble then you too are in trouble and by elementary deduction, so would Rosmah, Muhyuddin, Rais, MCA, MIC … in fact the whole gang would be in strife. The beginning of the end, perhaps? The harbinger of things to come in the not-too-distant future?
Mr Prime Mister Sir, I would suggest that you refrain from “punishing” the people of Sibu for not voting your candidate in lest they punish you again in the coming general elections next year. Lashing out at the voters who deserted you will bring more harm to UMNO than to the people who did not vote you in. Making an example of them will only lead to more votes going to PKR. In retrospect, that might not be such a bad thing after all ….
Mr Prime Minister you said it loud and clear to the people. You vote my candidate in and I will help you! A very basic tit for tat situation that leaves no doubt to the people of Sibu that they need to teach you a lesson in eating humble pie. A lesson in the possibility that maybe, just maybe, money cannot buy everything.
That the people of Sibu was not bought over by his usual attempt at “BUY election” must be worrying for Najib. It was not Muhyiddin that was making the offer. It was the head honcho himself. I only have this to say to Najib – be afraid, be very afraid. If money cannot get votes, what do you have left?
As Billy Joel said “Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue. Honesty is hardly ever heard. And mostly what I need from you”.
It is back to the drawing board for the UMNO guys.
