Splitting The Malay Vote, RCI, DNA & Stuff
Syed Akbar Ali
If you are old enough you may recall the famous World Heavy Weight Boxing title fight between Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton in 1973. I was 13 at that time and remember seeing the live telecast on TV. Ken Norton won the fight on points. More significantly he broke Muhammad Ali’s jaw. You can see Norton’s vicious left hook connecting in the picture.
Later there was talk that Ken Norton had been prepped to be absolutely focused on breaking Ali’s jaw. I think he was just well prepared. It does show the damage someone can do when they are determined and unwavering in their objective.
The DAP has come to realize that if the Malay vote is split, they can come out tops. Hence Perak, Penang and Selangor fell to the DAP in 2008. In 1990 the DAP teamed up with ex UMNO players who had morphed into Semangat 46. The Malay vote split and the BN lost Kelantan to PAS as a result of that tie up. Semangat 46 did not get anything.
Through Semangat 46, the DAP then also made the link to PAS – a link that remains unbroken until today. When Semangat 46 was dissolved and returned back to UMNO, the DAP kept up their direct ties with PAS.
The DAP will sleep with anyone to weaken Malay unity and split the Malay vote. There is nothing sinister or wrong about this. It is simple politics. It is called ‘menggunakan akal’. And the DAP has benefited tremendously from this strategy in 2008. Three States fell into their hands – Penang, Perak and Selangor. It may be possible that the DAP will get Perak back in the next elections. The Oracle has given Perak only a 50 / 50 chance.
The ordinary PAS member cannot yet figure out that they are providing the brawn and the manpower but it is the DAP that is getting the lion’s share of the outcome. A classic Ali Baba situation. Todate the biggest beneficiary of the PAS and DAP tie up has been the DAP. PAS has a major weakness in its spiritual leader – he is focused on using all the party’s resources to ensure his personal survival on his sacred ground zero – Al Kelantan.
(The PAS win in Kedah was a protest vote against Abdullah Badawi’s ill treatment of Kedah’s most illustrious son. It remains to be seen if the PAS can hold the State, although the absence of an effective UMNO organization seems to be helping them)
Since 1998, the arrival of more ex UMNO refugees in the form of PKR has helped split the Malay vote even more and benefited the DAP even more. Actually it is not the DAP that is splitting the Malay vote, it is the Malay vote which has been split. The DAP is merely taking advantage of the situation.
However the extent towards which the DAP is going to maintain this split is getting boring, tiresome and also dangerous. In 2008, the DAP realized that in the 21st century, UMNO and the BN can be wounded seriously without burning the country down. I think the reason for this is because when the UMNO and BN boys lose, they just pack up and leave.
In 1989 I was in Ampang Jaya on the night when rookie Ong Tee Keat defeated Dato Harun Idris of Semangat 46 in a By Election. As soon as the results were announced, thousands of people, including me and a friend, started leaving the area quietly. They were all BN supporters. The opposition guys hung around, screaming, throwing fireworks and just being rowdy.
In 1990, when UMNO lost Kelantan, the PAS rowdies smashed the toll gate on the Kelantan River bridge. No one regrets the toll being removed but that is how rowdy they are. Until today it is almost SOP that when the BN wins, the Police stand down. When the Opposition wins, things can get feisty.
To digress a little, lets go back to 1969. The Opposition did NOT win enough seats to form the Government. The Alliance was still the largest winner in Parliament but in places like Selangor they did not have enough seats to form an effective coalition either.
Anyway the night before the ill fated May 13, a few DAP Youths and other Opposition types went to Menteri Besar Dato Harun Idris’ house in Kampong Bharu and demanded that he resign. They could not speak Malay well at all. They were also of poor breeding, the kurang ajar types from the New Villages. So they did not put their request across in any polite or diplomatic language.
I have heard it from Tan Sri Sanusi Junid that one of them actually pissed on the flagpoles flying the Malaysian and Selangor flags at the Menteri Besar’s house. Guess who that person was? Maybe someone at his recent birthday party should ask him why he had to piss on a flagpole at the Menteri Besar’s house? Was it because of disrespect for the Menteri Besar, disrespect for the flag or both? Stupid behaviour like that sparked the May 13 violence. If you come to my house and even piss in the longkang outside my house, I will cut off more than your head.
Back to the PKR, they are dying an increasingly quicker death. It is a death by a thousand cuts. The party will never recover from the rigor of its approaching mortis. The Malay vote may be less split this time around. The DAP seems to be reading the tea leaves on this one too. Despite the charade in the Courts (also manipulated by the party’s own stalwart) the end is nigh.
Despite complaints about his Cabinet (mostly from the UMNO boys and including Bloggers like me) the Prime Minister Najib is becoming a one man popularity contest and earning major brownie points via Twitter, Facebook, Chinese New Year smses and what not.
Always saying the right things, rarely faltering, doing the right things too (including visiting the sick devil in hospital) and having a phenomenal memory which impresses people – the PM seems to inspire and give confidence. Stability and forward motion. The Stock Market is up and property prices are going up too.
So what shall the Opposition do? For starters they called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Teoh Beng Hock death. They were hoping the Government would dismiss their request and thereby earn sympathy for the Opposition. But nay, the Government said ‘OK lets have the Royal Commission’. This has stumped the DAP. The Government has upstaged them.
So damage control was needed – What are the DAP’s options? Simple : boycott the Royal Commission. But it was appointed by the Agong. So what? They did not want it anyway. Agong? They don’t care. Where are the flagpoles?
In the other Court, the DNA evidence is getting pretty thick. The Orang Kena Tuduh (OKT) just refuses to cooperate with the Court to provide a blood sample to check his DNA. Why? If he is an innocent peson, I really cannot understand what he is so afraid of? Kasi lah sampel untuk DNA?
And I don’t understand the Legal System in this country. They say that they cannot use the Orang Kena Tuduh’s earlier DNA identification data from his earlier Court appearances. Why not? It is on record. A man’s DNA does not change. But the Prosecution wants to follow the rules exactly – by the book. Haiyya but the other side is abusing all the rules. See how many times the case has been postponed already?
Folks, here are some interesting things I dug up about DNA testing. Even if someone refuses to give his DNA sample, the Courts in other jurisdictions do accept other methods of obtaining DNA samples, including the United States of America, the Mother of all Democracies, Human Rights and Freedom for the White People.
