BN pouring in RM80mil for 620 votes
A lot is being made of BN’s Linda Tsen’s whopping 6,359 majority in the Batu Sapi by-election. Without wishing to take anything away from her, it is important to point out that she scored just 294 votes more than her late husband Edmund Chong, and he had won with a majority of 3,708 votes.
So how can Linda’s 6,359 be possible? Is it the BN media spreading its usual mis-information, fully aided by the Najib-APCO public relations machinery? Fair or not, that assumption is actually not far off the mark because a lot is at stake.
More than ever Prime Minister Najib Razak needs to create the image of an unbeatable BN juggernaut that can wipe out any opposition that comes in its way. Chomp, chomp chomp!
But for pundits who look at new-voter registration numbers especially in the states that Pakatan controls, and in Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Johor, they won’t be jumping to panicky or deliberately-overblown conclusions that in the 13GE, the BN will win by a landslide!
Bamboozling numbers
Going back to Linda, she received 9,773 votes versus PKR Ansari Abdullah’s 3,414 and SAPP Yong Teck Lee’s 2,031. Her majority is obtained by subtracting Ansari’s 3,414 votes. It does not take into account Yong’s 2031.
Now, obviously this has to be done if one were to compare apple with apple and pear with pear. After subtracting Yong’s 2,031 her margin is actually just 4,328 votes. No doubt, still credible but far less misleading than the 6,359 that is being shouted from every corner of the nation by the BN media.
Compared with Edmund who garned 9,479 votes and a majority of 3,708, it means the BN managed to increase their support by a mere 620 votes (4,328 less 3,708).
Very slow-going considering the huge amount of resources BN ploughed into the by-election. No wonder, Deputy Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and PBS chief Joseph Pairin were full of smiles – smiles of relief no doubt!
To have poured in no less than RM80 million on election promises of a new road, school and mosque just to win 620 votes – now, that’s a loss, not a victory!
The same applies in Galas. Najib will know how much of the Kelantan victory is really his and 1Malaysia’s, how much of the glory actually belongs to Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, and finally, how much was actually inspired by cash, gifts and bribes.
“Let’s not count the state seats. There are more than 220 parliamentary seats. Can Najib pour in the same amount for each seat all at the same time? Just do the math and I think voters will understand there’s no way he can keep the promises. The dynamics between a national nation-wide polls and localized by-elections are very different,” PKR strategic director Tian Chua told the reporters.
