The second coming of Isa

By Leslie Lau - The Malaysian Insider

Consultant Editor

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — For Umno, normal service resumed today with Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad’s landslide victory in the Bagan Pinang state seat in Negri Sembilan.

Malaysia’s political behemoth snapped a losing streak that was threatening to continue until the next general elections.

But the party should not view this as a watershed victory.

Umno has owned this seat and Isa, for all the talk about being a corrupt politician, is a saint at home.

In over 20 years as Negri Sembilan mentri besar (MB), he has more than taken care of his constituents.

From development projects to paving roads even in plantations, he has made Port Dickson — where Bagan Pinang is located — Isa Samad territory.

In Negri Sembilan and Port Dickson in particular, Isa has also built a reputation as being one of the most approachable politicians.

Ultimately, Isa’s brand name, and not Umno’s, won the day today.

But the victory was even bigger than Umno could have hoped for.

Taking the seat by such a huge majority means Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) can ride on this wave to stop any further electoral gains by Pakatan Rakyat (PR), which has now found itself facing its own problems of squabbling and an inability to show Malaysians what it can offer.

Yet there are pitfalls to today’s victory.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has been uncanny in his ability to read political signs, has said Isa’s candidacy itself did not speak well of Umno if it was serious about instituting reforms.

Isa had, after all, been found guilty before by his own party for vote-buying.

A recent poll by the independent Merdeka Centre also found that a majority of voters in peninsular Malaysia did not approve of such a tainted candidate.

Nonetheless Isa’s candidacy, being the sure thing that it was right from the beginning, has energised Umno like never before since BN lost its two-thirds majority in Election 2008.

Umno ran an efficient and effective campaign which had been a hallmark of the party before last year.

The campaign anticipated everything PR and PAS could throw at them.

Still, PR politicians had also anticipated the BN victory and had been bracing itself from day one.

Isa’s win will be used against BN and Umno from now on. It will be used to label Umno as a party of corrupt politicians. Umno is also likely to face some upheaval from Isa’s win.

Despite denials at the beginning of the campaign, the pressure will now build towards reinstalling Isa as Negri Sembilan MB.

And the more right-wing elements in Umno which rallied behind Isa will also be on the rise, and that will spell trouble for the reformists in the party.

It is still, for now at least, a win to be cherished by Umno.