Is Kajang a by-election too far for Umno?
(The Ant Daily) – If Muhyiddin was sparing himself the ignominy of being the scapegoat, is Mei Fun willing herself to be the sacrificial lamb?
“A Bridge Too Far” tells the story of Operation Market Garden, a failed Allied attempt to break through German lines across the river Rhine in occupied Netherlands during World War II.
The title of the book by Cornelius Ryan comes from a remark made by a British general, “I think we may be going a bridge too far”.
Is Umno-BN headed the same route?
First, online media flash headlines like “Has BN conceded defeat in Kajang?” and “Voters want Anwar as MB”.
Then, Barisan Nasional component party Gerakan says the by-election is crucial for BN to benchmark support. I beg your pardon? Another KPI gimmick?
Umno-BN is right smack between a rock and a hard place.
To sit out the by-election would be too much for the likes of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Daim Zainuddin to swallow.
To place an Umno candidate would be too much of a tightrope walk for risk-averse/talk-averse but not spend-averse/jet-set-averse Datuk Seri Najib Razak to attempt.
So, do the next best thing: Place an MCA nominee and kill several birds with one stone.
In endorsing Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun to face off with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Umno trumpeted Barisan Nasional’s so-called spirit of “power-sharing”.
Who is Umno fooling?
After “power-grabbing” three parliamentary seats from MCA in GE13, Umno went on to spectacularly lose Gelang Patah, Wangsa Maju and Kuantan.
Najib was not about to grill his flimsy prime ministership by grabbing Kajang in these troubled times.
Neither was his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin ready to stake his reputation on leading the charge of the light brigade into the PKR fortress.
The deputy prime minister-cum-Umno deputy president almost always leads BN’s by-election campaigns.
For Kajang, the BN election director is lightweight Datuk Seri Noh Omar, the Selangor Umno chief. His appointment was announced by none other than Muhyiddin himself.
