Isa is vindicated... and Samy and PR too

By Jeff Ooi

UPDATED VERSION. Mohd Isa Samad may measure a petite 5-feet-2 from the ground, he now stands taller than BN-Umno combined.

Without an official footing in national level politics, will Isa get his quid pro quo and be made a state Exco?

SOURCE: Malaysiakini, Oct 11, 2009

The record shows he has won the Bagan Pinang by-election with a 5,435-vote majority, defeating PAS candidate Zulkefly Mohamad Omar by more than doubling the margin of 2,333 votes BN-Umno scored during GE2008.

Significantly, BN-Umno managed to recapture the three voting centres that fell to PAS in 2008, namely Pekan Silliau, Ladang Atherton and Sua Betong. There is also obvious erosion of Chinese votes to the BN's favour, notably in Kampung Bagan Pinang and Teluk Kemang.

Even the 40% block of postal votes, the key contention of a lop-sided contest, were solidly delivered to favour BN-Umno. The majority this time has increased to 2,920 votes from 1,891 in 2008. BN-Umno's score in postal votes improved to 3,521 from 3,080 in 2008, while that for PAS worsened from 1,189 votes to 601 yesterday.

In a way, Isa is vindicated.

Despite his party having slapped him with a 6-year political jail sentence and later with a parole for proven money politics, he has been recycled, reused, and has survived the severe test of political resuscitation that Soi Lek failed to get.

Both Isa and Soi Lek have been exemplary examples of political taboos for many a Malaysian who despise moral decadence among public figures who hold and wield power while they last.

However, in Najib's 1Malaysia, it's glaring that Umno and MCA practise two different sets of moral compass for people who walk the corridors of power, and they are showered with different fate.

All these happened one day after the other within the last two days. I can expect Malaysians to debate this issue actively in the days to come -- 1 Malaysia, 2 Moral Systems for communal politics.

Samy vindicated too

In another way, MIC chief S. Samy Vellu should feel vindicated too.

One day before voting in Bagan Pinang, on October 10, BN chief Najib Razak tried to subvert MIC -- and by default plant a vote of no-confidence in Samy -- by officiating the launch of another race-based political entity by the name of Malaysian Makkal Sakti Party.

According to MIC sources quoted in Malaysiakini, out of the 1,870 Indians who voted in Bagan Pinang, BN got a whopping 1,387 votes while PAS only managed 483.

Isn't MIC still holding fort? MIC can now proclaim that with Samy at the helm, it is still the only power representing the Indians in Malaysia.

But other minor components in BN, minions such as Gerakan and PPP, are crying foul of the BN taiko's new crusading agenda -- shape up or ship out.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS... The Bagan Pinang results are also a false vindication for the Pakatan Rakyat and voters who turned away from BN.

With Isa's landslide win, they can safely say: 'Umno has legitimised corruption'. But don't forget the changing dynamics in bread-and-butter politics.

I have participated in 6 out of 8 by-elections and campaigned for PR in Peninsular Malaysia thus far, and I had been observing. It's a lesson yet-to-be learned by many political hopefuls.

In Bagan Pinang, the candidate was from PAS. I noticed DAP under the leadership of Negeri Sembilan chief Anthony Loke had gone all the way to provide ground support to the local PAS leadership which saw wobbly logistics playing haunt on them throughout the 7-day campaign.

DAP chose a strategic, visible location along the Jalan Pantai trunk road to place its operation centre and bore all the costs incurred for manpower, and campaign essentials. PAS showed its appreciation by having the announcement of the candidate at the DAP Ops Room, and held the finale rally at the same premises.

Causal Campaigners vs Casual Campaigners

However, the same cannot be said of PKR in terms of ground presence and real logistics support. Most PKR leaders relied on the so-called magic of Anwar Ibrahim and offered their oratory skills at the ceramahs. Ground presence and campaign leadership were abundantly absent.

In Bagan Pinang, its a clear case of Causal Campaigners contrasting the Casual Campaigners among the PR component parties that decided the outcome.

Those outstation PR YBs -- we have 82 MPs to count on nationally, and over a couple of hundred of state assembly persons on register -- seemed to think that they don't have to go work the ground to ensure a victory.

A handful of PR YBs used press statements, not even blogs in the digital age, to remotely campaign at large.

Many other PR YBs thought they needed just to show up only during the last laps of the campaign and to squeeze their ways onto the same stage that Anwar speak on the finale super rally -- and steal a camera opportunity or two for good Press.

These free-rider PR YBs had better be prepared for more landslide defeats in their respective homegrounds, far worse than the one we saw in Bagan Pinang yesterday.

Mohd Isa Samad has just proved that there's no replacement for consistent solid legwork on the ground to win the hearts and souls of the electorate.

Whether he made a pile for himself in between the money trains of development, or whether he should unfairly inherit a big stash of victory-guaranteed postal votes is entirely a different matter, though.

For now, PAS has to do some soul-searching to determine if the Hasan Ali factor in Selangor has contributed to the tremendous erosion of support to PR among the non-Malays/non-Muslims alike.