Party elections versus general elections (UPDATED with Chinese Translation)

ARCHIVES 2013

By MT Webmaster On Apr 15, 2013

And that is why Azmin Ali refuses to give Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Nurul Izzah Anwar state seats in Selangor. Dr Wan Azizah is barred from contesting a Parliament seat while Nurul Izzah is contesting an unsafe seat, Lembah Pantai.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

A total of 727 seats — 222 Parliament seats and 505 state seats — are going to be contested on 5th May 2013. This excludes the 71 Sarawak state seats or else there would be 798 seats in all (Sarawak already had its state election two years ago in April 2011).

Those who have been politically active — meaning ‘on the ground’ — for some time would know that the party elections are always seen as more important and more hotly contested than the general elections. More money is spent on the party elections than in the general elections.

It would appear that these 3,000 (or more) Malaysians are offering to serve the 28 million rakyat (citizens) as their wakil rakyat (people’s representative). And it would also appear that these 3,000 (or more) Malaysians are selfless people who only wish to serve and do good deeds for the rakyat.

Actually, they will be paid a lot of money to do the job that requires no education or qualifications. They only need to know how to talk and how to apple-polish their party bosses and those who decide who gets to contest the elections.

Ultimately, this is cronyism and nepotism at its best. Those who get chosen to contest would be those who are loyal and can serve the interest of the party bosses. Those considered a threat to these party leaders would definitely be sidelined and would not get chosen to contest.

The general elections are crucial to politicians who wish to climb the party ladder or who wish hold on to their position in the party. If they are not wakil rakyat then their political future is bleak and they would not be able to climb the party ladder or hold on to their position in the party.

Hence becoming a wakil rakyat is the first step to bigger things. And if you cannot clear this first hurdle of becoming a wakil rakyat then forget about your political career in the party.

And this is why there is a lot of jostling for seats in every general election. Failing to get a seat means that the party and the party leaders do not have confidence in you, do not trust you, do not consider you one of the gang, do not wish for you to rise up the party ladder, and so on.

The general election is basically the trial run. If you get chosen as a candidate and you make it, then that means you are going to go places in the party. If you do not get chosen or you lose the election, your future in politics is not so bright.

And that was why many of those who were not chosen to contest in 1999, or lost the election in 1999, soon faded away and were never seen again. The same thing happened in 2004 and 2008. And that is why many who were not chosen to contest left the party and/or crossed over to another party and/or contested as independent candidates and/or sabotaged the candidate who was chosen over them.

And this is the greatest fear that Umno and Barisan Nasional faces — that those who are not chosen will merajuk (sulk) and damage their own party out of spite and vengeance. (Note the many statements by Umno hinting to this over the last few weeks).

Let me put it this way. If their real interest is merely to serve the rakyat, then what does it matter who gets chosen to contest the election and what does it matter if they are not chosen? Why must it be them and only them? After all, anyone can serve the rakyat, not only them.

Well, that is because it is not about the rakyat but about their personal political career and future. And if they do not get to contest the election, no doubt the rakyat loses nothing, but they who do not get chosen will lose everything.

Now do you know why it is so important that you get chosen to contest the election if you wish to go places?

On the other hand, those who make the decision in choosing these candidates need to consider how these successful calun (candidates) can serve them and whether they will be loyal and not bite the hand that feeds them. And if certain people are seen as a threat, those decision makers need to make sure that these threats are eliminated — meaning they do not get chosen to contest the election.

Now, if Dr Wan Azizah and Nurul Izzah are given state seats in Selangor, and if they are given safe seats on top of that, then the mother and daughter will most likely win the election. And this would mean that their political careers are secure.

However, since Dr Wan Azizah is no longer going to be a wakil rakyat and Nurul Izzah will most likely lose the Lembah Pantai seat, they can more or less kiss their political careers good-bye.

So who will rise up the party ladder instead? Well, the plan is, Azmin Ali will go for President, Zuraida Kamaruddin for Deputy President, and Rafizi Ramli for one of the Vice Presidents.

Hence ‘Team Azmin’ will emerge victorious while ‘Team Azizah’ is dead and buried.

And that is the only reason why Malaysia holds a general election every four or five years. It is for the party to weed out ‘threats’ to the party leadership. And this is what Umno does each and every time, as do all the other parties within Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.

And this is what is happening to Dr Wan Azizah and Nurul Izzah as well. They are being weeded out because they are a threat to Azmin Ali.

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黨内選舉對壘國家大選

这就是为什么阿芝敏Azmin Ali拒绝让旺姐 Azizah Wan Ismail 和努鲁Nurul Izzah Anwar 在雪兰莪竞选州席。在国席方面，旺姐已被禁止参选，而努鲁则被派发到一个凶险的选区——Lembah Pantai。

原文：Raja Petra Kamarudin

译文：方宙

这次5月5好将有727个席位举行选举——222个国席和505个州席。如果把砂劳越的71个州席也算进去的话，那就总共有798个席位（砂劳越在2011年4月就举行了州选举）。

那些曾经很活跃地参与政治的——既是‘在工地工作的’——肯定很清楚党内选举其实将会比大选更为激烈和重要。党内选举所花的钱要比大选的还要多呢。

看来这3000个马来西亚人会以成为人民代议士的方式来服务2千8百万个马来西亚人民。而看来这3000个人都是无私的，他们的目的就只是要服务和为人民做事。

其实，他们将得到的是一份薪水很高且不需要高学历的工作。他们只需要懂得如何讲话和如何拍他们党内老大和候选人决定人的马屁。

最终，这将会演变成最正宗的裙带关系。那些会被派上阵的将会是那些只对他们老大忠诚，处处只会为他们老大着想的。而那些被看成会对党领袖造成威胁的就会被排挤掉而不会被派参选。

大选对那些想要上位或要在党内捉权的政客来讲是非常重要的。如果他们不是人民代议士那他们的政治前途将会是很黯然的；他们将无法上位，也无法捉权。

所以成为人民代议士是迈向大好前途的第一步。如果你跨不出这第一步那你就忘了你的政治生涯吧。

这就是为什么会有很多席位竞争的原因。争不到一席半座代表着党领袖对你的没信心，对你的不信任，没把你当成是他们的一份子，不想你上位。。。等等。

大选基本上是个演习；如果你是候选人而你又被选的话，那么你在党内就能继续往前走。如果你没被选当候选人或输掉大选的话，那你的前途就不是那么光明了。

这就是为什么那些在1999年大选没有被选或输掉大选的就会渐渐消失，同样的事情也发生在2004年和2008年大选。而这也是为什么很多在党内没有被命为候选人的很快就会离党，或跳去其他政党，或成为独立候选人，或扯他们党候选人的后退。

这就是巫统和国阵最大的恐惧——那些没被命为候选人的会因为要复仇而进行破坏（你可以注意最近几个星期巫统的公告，他们都在暗示着这一点）。

让我这样讲吧，如果他们要的是服务人民的话，那么谁是候选人很重要吗？为什么一定是要某些人成为候选人呢？毕竟所有人都可以服务人民，并不只是那一小撮人而已。

答案是得关键并不在人民而是在他们自己的政治生涯和前景。如果他们不上阵的话，人民根本就不会失去任何东西，而他们失去的将会是所有的东西。

你现在明白，如果你要更上一层楼，为什么你一定要被选为候选人了吗？

另一方面，那些话事人要确保的是他们选的候选人将会对他们忠诚而不是会反过来咬他们。如果话事人认为某个人是个威胁的话，那他必须确保這个威胁会被清除——那某个人将不会出现在大选中。

这就是为什么阿芝敏Azmin Ali拒绝让旺姐 Azizah Wan Ismail 和让努鲁Nurul Izzah Anwar 在雪兰莪竞选州席。在国席方面，旺姐已被禁止参选而努鲁则被派发到一个凶险的选区——Lembah Pantai。

如果旺姐和努鲁被批准在雪兰莪竞选且在安全的国席选区上阵的话，她们母女两有很大的胜出机会。那也代表她们的政治生涯将会固若金汤。

但现在旺姐将不会是国会议员而努鲁有很大机会将在Lembah Pantai败选。她们可以和她们的政治前途说再见了。

那谁会称霸公正党呢？答案是，Azmin Ali会成为党主席，Zuraida Kamaruddin会成为副主席, Rafizi Ramli也会掌握党内要职。

换句话说，Azmin队将会庆祝胜利而旺姐队将会被活埋。

这也是马来西亚每隔4,5年就要举行大选的唯一原因。这是个让政党把威胁给排除掉的大好机会。巫统每届都这样做，而国阵和民联各党也是。

现在旺姐和努鲁正面对着这个问题。她们正在被排除着，因为她们是阿芝敏的眼中钉。