KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 – Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) loss in the Bagan Pinang by-election was a rude wake-up call for the coalition, indicating that it could not be overconfident of its popularity among Malaysians, said the DAP’s Lim Kit Siang.
In his blog posting today, Lim said that PR needed to be serious in addressing its internal issues if it wanted to ever become the people’s choice as a viable alternative to the Barisan Nasional and helm the Federal Government.
“The rout suffered by the PR in Bagan Pinang should destroy the myth entertained by any quarter that PR is embarked on an invincible path to victory in the next general elections, whether national or state,” he said.
He added that PR parties needed to go back to the drawing board and stop sweeping the many issues bedevilling the coalition under the carpet.
Lim admitted surprise at the BN’s stellar performance in sweeping up more than double the vote majority they had obtained in the March 8 general election last year.
Former Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad clinched the state seat in a landslide win on Sunday after he polled a whopping 8,013 votes against state PAS chief Zulkefly Omar’s 2,578, earning him a majority of 5,435.
Lim also blamed the big win on Umno’s money politics and party propaganda.
“It was the result of gross abuses of power, money politics as well as the postal ballot chicanery,” he said.
Sunday’s polls leaves a bitter taste in the mouth for PR parties, especially since a large majority of the constituency’s Indian voters, which constitutes about 20 per cent of the total population, had backed BN.
Several PR leaders however believe that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s clever move to endorse the launching of the new Makkal Sakti party had been one of the contributing factors of the shift.
“To some extent, the whole Makkal Sakti issue did contribute. It had also created a sense of confusion among the Indians there,” said PKR vice-president R. Sivarasa.
He added that the Indian constituents were among the poorest lot in Bagan Pinang and BN’s method of handing out goodies made a big difference to them.
“To the poor, the sweeteners that were given out go a long way. These gifts are big to them and the promises made by the BN mean a lot to them,” he said.
Sivarasa also admitted that Isa himself, as the state’s former mentri besar, despite his tainted past, was a popular personality to the people of Bagan Pinang.
“They have known him for years and he has a track record with them. Plus, he can speak Tamil,” he said.
Additionally, Sivarasa said that the voters of Bagan Pinang had cast their ballots based on a very “localised” mindset.
“They did not look at the bigger picture and we cannot blame them. Unlike the other by-elections, like the one in Perak, they did not experience first-hand the BN’s abuse of power,” he said.
PAS vice-president and the party’s Bagan Pinang election director Salahuddin Ayub also agreed that the Makkal Sakti factor had helped BN’s campaign a fair bit during the polls.
“However, it is only for the time being. This is BN’s style. The problem with Umno is that they can make all the promises but fulfilling them is another matter,” he said.
He also continued to pin some of the blame on PR’s loss on the large number of postal voters in the constituency, an issue which PAS had been harping on since the start of the by-election process.
“The lack of fairness and cleanliness in the whole postal voting process will continue to be an issue for us and we will keep fighting for it.
“It is clear that the postal votes made a large difference. Umno swept up more than 90 per cent of the postal votes,” he said.
Salahuddin said that the PAS legal team would be deliberating on the matter over the next few days and decide whether it should file a suit against the Election Commission.
During the campaigning period, PAS had raised several issues over the postal voting process, including the existence of “double voters”, the existence of ex-servicemen in the postal voter list and discrepancies in the polling centres.
“Our legal team will be meeting on this soon and will be studying the number of police reports and reports to the commission which we made during the by-election.
“If they feel we have enough grounds, we will file the suit,” he said.
Salahuddin conceded the loss in Bagan Pinang had broken the PR’s winning streak but insisted it had not in any way killed the coalition’s spirit or strength.
“They may have won the battle but not the war,” he said.
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