Is Kajang a blessed or cursed by-election?

Mohamed Hanipa Maidin, Harakah

As a general rule the resignation of any state assemblyperson resulting in a by-election is not a wise move. Money spent on a by-election may be better channelled to other causes. But that is a general rule. There are always exceptions to the general rule.

The former assemblyman for Kajang had indicated his reasons for such abrupt resignation. As a replacement, Anwar Ibrahim will contest in the upcoming by election. Many doubt the reasons given by the former Kajang assemblyperson.

People see the latest move by PKR, ultimately blessed by PAS and DAP, as being motivated by internal squabbling within PKR. But whatever reasons underlying such a move, there must be some pressing needs stimulating Anwar to take such a drastic move.

Compared to Kelantan or Kedah or even Penang, Selangor may be the true reflection of Malaysia. It bears many resemblances. It is my beliefs that if Pakatan is able to efficiently administer Selangor it clearly has strong legitimacy to govern Malaysia.

Pakatan has made many significant inroads in Selangor and all its policies so far have been people-friendly thanks to Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and his able team. But there are justified concerns that complacency has started to set in. If these concerns are not immediately addressed it may be too late to fix them.

As far as Umno is concerned, losing Selangor to Pakatan was a very painful experience. Yes, Umno managed to recapture Kedah but such victory was meaningless when it failed to win back Selangor.

People must never forget that Umno has never been a fair player. With all the machinery at its disposal , Umno can be so ruthless in devising strategies as to  bury its political enemies. Umno desperately wants to get back Selangor by hook or by crook. Khalid has been a superb manager but his political reading is not as erudite as Anwar’s.

To have Anwar in the Selangor team may help strengthen this administration. Kedah is a painful history for Pakatan and whether PAS is ready to admit it or not, sweeping problems under the carpet is not how you run a government. Pakatan in Selangor cannot afford to repeat the same mistake.

As usual, Umno has chided Anwar. Umno complained that a by-election was a waste of money and a betrayal of trust. What a joke! A party which is known to have spent billions of ringgit buying votes in all by elections still has the audacity to show concern for the people’s money.

Maybe Umno has to define the meaning of ‘wastage of money’. When the people’s money allocated for buying cows was illegally spent to purchase condominiums, how do you describe the act ? The list as to how BN ill spent our money is too long to be listed here.

Umno must be joking when it said that a by-election is a betrayal of trust. What about the power grab in Perak? If that was not an utter betrayal of trust what was? If at all Umno is to care about wastage of money, the best option is not to contest in the Kajang by-election. How much money would be saved if Umno stayed out at every by-election allowing a non-contested win for Pakatan?

The decision to have a by-election in Kajang is not easy to defend.  That aside, the by-election may be the best platform to put out all of Najib Abdul Razak’s unwise policies to the real test. Why don’t we use this by- election as a bold referendum of Najib’s administration?

People are having a hard time right now. Economically, people are suffering. Politically, Malaysians are so divided with the rise of politics of racism. Religious harmony seems to be terribly threatened. Zero tolerance is being shown for freedom of belief. The crime index is constantly rising despite the reemergence of draconian laws such as the Prevention of Crime Act.

All these issues are allowed to run their own course without any meaningful solutions. The best that Najib can respond to the people’s woes is to say that the people have to thank the BN government due to the latter’s interference in controlling the price of kangkung!

With all these lingering issues people are eager to know how the BN machinery will respond to them in Kajang. Hitherto, people have not seen any meaningful response from the BN regime. Yes, the by-election is not to change the government. But rest assured that Umno is only scared of one thing – votes. The best lesson to teach Umno is to ensure Umno loses its election deposit when the result of the Kajang by-election is finally announced!

But a caveat needs to be entered here. Pakatan, and Anwar in particular, owe it to the people of Kajang a very convincing and reasonable explanation as to why the by-election was badly needed. Do not take the people for granted. People demand a wise and reasonable explanation. Maybe an apology is a good start before we offer an explanation.

A wise party does not treat an apology as a sign of weakness.  On the other hand, admitting a mistake and offering an apology is a virtue.

The Kajang by-election is a real challenge for Pakatan. It may be a blessed by-election if Pakatan is successful in giving a good and wise explanation to the voters. If it fails to do so, the Kajang by-election may be turned out to be a cursed one.