Political plots and ploys
In Malaysia, political statements from Barisan Nasional are murky, mind-boggling and misleading. It is not as simple as “what you see is what you get”, in this case what you hear is not what it is. No wonder most people find the Malaysian political scene tiresome. It is akin to a long serial drama or soap opera with no end in sight as there is always a twist, double twist or even a triple somersault in every plot, sub-plot and plot within a plot.
By Selena Tay, The Malaysian Insider
The recent statement by Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor makes it seem as if Umno is distancing itself from right-wing group Perkasa.
If this is really the intention of Umno, well and good. But knowing Umno, this statement should be taken with a pinch of salt. However, before the Chinese and Indians could rejoice at this statement, Dr Mahathir Mohamad dampened the joy by saying that Umno could ill-afford to ignore Perkasa.
What does all of this mean? This writer, being a simpleton, finds it all too puzzling. Moreover, the silence of the other Umno bigwigs is deafening.
In Malaysia, political statements from Barisan Nasional are murky, mind-boggling and misleading. It is not as simple as “what you see is what you get”, in this case what you hear is not what it is. No wonder most people find the Malaysian political scene tiresome. It is akin to a long serial drama or soap opera with no end in sight as there is always a twist, double twist or even a triple somersault in every plot, sub-plot and plot within a plot.
That being said, this writer thinks that Tengku Adnan’s statement is a ploy to garner support from the Chinese and Indians before the 13th general election is held. Perhaps, this is an indication that the election could not be very far off, may be next year or just around the corner.
Going by earlier observations, this writer thinks that BN’s original plan is this: Najib and BN’s “1 Malaysia” slogan to capture the Chinese and Indian votes while Perkasa grabs the Malay votes. All bases covered, perfect.
However, while the 1 Malaysia slogan has succeeded in capturing some of the Chinese and Indian votes, Perkasa’s deeds or misdeeds, depends on how you look at it, have negated the gains obtained in the Chinese and Indian market.
Now that the Malay market has reached a plateau, BN finds it expedient to let go of Perkasa in order to regain the losses incurred by Perkasa in the Chinese and Indian markets. But having let go of Perkasa, they may find that they will lose some votes in the Malay market and the numbers gained from the Chinese and Indian votes may not be enough to offset the loss in the Malay votes.
It has now become the law of diminishing returns here and so BN is in a quandary.
Coupled that with Dr Mahathir’s statement that it is unwise for Umno to distance itself from Perkasa while the MCA is openly against Perkasa, Umno is now in a Catch-22 situation.
Therefore, it is now back to the drawing board for them. The common Malaysian word used in difficult situations is “stuck”. So for now, Umno is stuck.
As they seem to come up against a great wall where Chinese support is concerned, this writer thinks that very soon Umno will revert to being friendly with Perkasa again seeing that it is pointless to woo the Chinese and not getting anywhere with that while at the same time losing Malay votes.
Umno, always being pragmatic, will do whatever it takes to ensure its survival. Hence, the only wise and logical move will be to go back to the earlier strategy and let the 1 Malaysia slogan grab the non-Malay votes and Perkasa to woo the Malays.
This only goes to show that BN is not united, has no clear-cut ideology and is willing to do anything and everything to secure and safeguard its position. Although BN enjoys painting a picture that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) component parties are not united, especially PAS and the DAP with its diverse political ideologies, there is the common platform of transparency, accountability, good governance, justice and fairness for all as outlined in the Common Policy Framework endorsed and signed by the top leaders of PAS, DAP and PKR on December 19, 2009.
This Common Policy Framework is the manifesto of Pakatan Rakyat. All three PR component parties adhere to this one, single manifesto unlike BN where each component party do their own thing. And it is not only every component party for themselves, it is everyman for himself.
There is no single, solid platform and the component parties in BN lack cohesion, co-ordination and co-operation.
One must also take cognizance of the fact that all component parties in BN practice the philosophy of existentialism which means that their raison d’etre is to benefit oneself. It does not exist for the greater good of society or to benefit humanity. It is a selfish philosophy devoid of heart and soul.
