Friday 16 January 2009

The Kuala Terengganu Elections

I have read many of the articles written in Malaysia Today. It is the principal medium through which most of the attacks against UMNO are taking place. UMNO bloggers, admittedly have not been intense as the Pakatan Bloggers. That’s an indicator of the intellectual deficit which UMNO has. Maybe, what they are lacking upstairs is made up by brawn. Possibly, they are doing work on the ground. Ground work, actual face to face encounters are better indicators of voter’s preference.

Accordingly, I wouldn’t place too high a premium on blog voices. They are, at best opinion shapers that need actual conversion. To use a very recent metaphor used by the intriguing Mr Padedoh, while we bloggers can carpet bomb the targeted areas, it is the ground troops that do the finishing touches. They do the protracted battles- trench warfare, frontal, rear attacks- whatever weapons necessary to win each and every battle- buy votes, snatching IDs, intimidation, putting the fear of god in everyone, threatening to circumcise everybody, selling God’s promises, giving benedictions and so on. Spiritual corruption is as abhorrent as physical one. Spiritual intimidation is as potent as physical ones. So what actually is the difference between the spiritual soothsayer and the physical magician?

The answer, I am proposing lies in who best converts the weaponry they have,- PAS with their spiritual goodies and UMNO with their physical wares, into IMMEDIATE USABLE BENEFITS. It is to these, that people of KT must look out for. So in answer to the commentator, Mr Navi who asked me, which will I choose, I say, Mr Navi I choose the latter. I don’t apologise on my choice. Spiritual salvation, I will certainly look for.

I am not trivialising the great propaganda work carried out by the Pakatan bloggers and it will be some time, when the UMNO cyber-troopers get their act together. I mean that as a compliment to RPK and his band of brothers, including of course the equally indomitable Unker Zorro. He has been relentless.

Let’s just say, at the moment, the Pakatan Rakyat Bloggers enjoy some advantage. Therein lies the beauty and value of the internet. To a very large degree it allows a leveling of the playing field- on that field, adversaries pit wits and intelligence and thought process against one another. As far as I know, blogging is by far the most democratic medium for freedom of expression. That, to me personally is a gift from the gods.

Allow me to expand. Having found myself marginalised by the very people that I am now defending, blogging has provided me the new medium, unbridled thus far, to express my thoughts on a range of issues and topics. Therefore in answer to a commentator to the 3rd series of my Warkah To The People Of KT- blogging extends what I have been doing while actually serving as ADUN. And to this particular cynical commentator, I would further say, you aint seen nothing yet!. What I am doing now probably captures only 10% of what I have done before. The future can only be more explosive.

And so we come back again, to the detached and philosophical question posed by the PR propaganda machine- let us send a message. The people of KT and indeed the whole of Terengganu have sent their clear message. Idris Jusoh, the man known for his notoriety with the excesses and personal indiscretions toward Tuanku Sultan Terengganu has been removed. The people of Terengganu have spoken by putting in the pugilistic Mat Said as the new MB. You wanted a leader whom you think needs to be combative and you got one.

That only proves again and again, the people of Terengganu and KT are businesslike in their decisions. Nothing personal, just business. So there’s nothing personal if you choose not to elect a PAS parliamentarian and certainly, you will not be influenced by all those nonsensical references about Wan Farid’s personality.

We don’t have to like his bloody face. Can he do a job well? Has he got the smarts? Can he walk and chew gum at the same time? Measure him against these. Hell, he can’t do anything about his face- he was born like that. Just as an aside, you can’t do anything about the faces of a Mat Sabu or of an Ibrahim Ali. Ibrahim Ali thinks of himself as a most handsome and sexy man. Only Mat Sabu thinks he is handsomer than Ibrahim Ali.

So the people of KT must resist the invitation to reject Wan Farid because he is sombong, because he is alleged to be difficult to meet up and so forth. Anwar Ibrahim has got an uppity face for that matter and his consistently dismissive refusal to see those seeking his help when he was a cabinet minister, was legendary.

If there are defective monsoon drains, roads and other social facilities that are lacking, ask yourselves, what have the local reps been doing in the district development meetings? (mesyuarat pembangunan daerah) you have 3 PAS ADUNs and they can’t even look after drains? Or if PAS reps do not attend mesyuarat pembangunan daerah, have they made representations to district offices to correct these defects?

12 comments:

  1. Dato,
    You seem to have an great grasp and insight on the weaknesses and the needs of UMNO to reform and rekindle itself as a party for the masses.
    Don't you think that you should get into the foray and seek some leading role to enable that? I think that you should.

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  2. Dato' Sak,
    Agree with you that bloggers are merely opinion shapers and they never have any significant effect on the voters especially on a by election like the one now in KT. The most bloggers can do is to provide ammunition to those in the front lines out there. That is if they read blogs.
    In the case of Raja Petra, it is a different thing altogether as he is down on the ground and by now is a celebrity. Having stayed in Kuala Trengganu for quite a long period, he may have a lot of friends who knew him personally and will be easily convinced by him. He can always regaled the audience with his many experiences of being justly or justly (depending on which side you are on) detained by the authorities without him being charged in any court of law. Personally I think singlehandedly, he is doing the utmost damage to UMNO right now. With Marina in tow, a few more chinese votes could go the PAS way.
    The appointment of the present MB is seen as the biggest flaw in the in the administration of PM Abdullah. Remember Ahmad Said is the choice of the Palace and there was a stand off between the Palace and the PM with the rest of the elected UMNO state reps on the PM's side. What if the Palace didn't iterfere? Trengganu would be stuck with an unpopular MB, which was the choice of PM Abdullah.
    To entice people with spiritual goodies to vote for you compared to physical goodies which could be of immediate use is definitely an undaunting task. It is not as easy as doling out tangible goodies. Many will accept the goodies handed out to them and yet not vote for UMNO. They don't have any qualms about receiving the goodies because in their mind the fund used to buy the goodies came from dubious projects awarded to cronies at inflated price via direct negotiation and not open tender.
    Now it is time for the people of Trengganu to decide on who is to represent them in Parliament. Whichever way the vote goes to, it will not make a dent on the present status quo. If UMNO/BN loses, then you know how much UMNO will have to reinvent itself to make it a party relevant enough to face the next General Election

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  3. Just as an aside, you can’t do anything about the faces of a Mat Sabu or of an Ibrahim Ali. Ibrahim Ali thinks of himself as a most handsome and sexy man. Only Mat Sabu thinks he is handsomer than Ibrahim Ali

    Datuk

    Tak lama selepas Ibrahim keluar 46 dulu, dalam satu ceramah Mat Sabu kata lebih kurang gini:

    "Sekarang tikus banyak di bendang (di Kelantan). Tak payah beli racun tikus. Bubuh gambar Ibrahim Ali banyak-banyak di bendang tuan-tuan. Tikus mesti lari!"

    Ibrahim Ali pula jawab lebih kurang gini:

    "Kepalammu tu rambut tercacak-cacak. Kalu kena babi, babi pun mampus!"

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  4. Blogs do level the playing field - but only for as long as we are in cyberspace. Log-off and the illusion is shattered: Welcome back to the real world where nothing - absolutely nothing - is level anymore!

    And I agree with you, despite the red-hot rhetoric and intellectual 'carpet-bombing' directed against UMNO by bloggers, it is the grunts on the ground who will get the job done. This is perhaps why UMNO may acually win in KT.

    Blogs are entertaining - some are even informative; but at the end of the day, face-to-face interaction will always win over cathartic pseudo-journalism.

    I am not anti-UMNO, but this alone doesn't make me a PKR supporter by default. I still have a soft-spot for what UMNO, the party, stands for. UMNO still pulls at my heartstrings. Its just that I have not been able to make that first step on that journey back to UMNO.

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  5. Dear sir;

    You said:...
    "PAS with their spiritual goodies and UMNO with their physical wares, into IMMEDIATE USABLE BENEFITS....Mr Navi who asked me, which will I choose, I say, Mr Navi I choose the latter."

    i'm quite amused but not surprised by your choice. It's a classic umno mentality. get anything irrespective of whether by the right or the wrong way. and I know umno species very very well.the worst human specimen i've ever met are umno people. if they can buy votes and pay rm200 to insult mahathir their most illustrious leader and arguably the best PM of malaysia , they would do anything to get their way.

    yes, KT mak ciks and pak ciks and the chinese will be bribed and lavished with IMMEDIATE USABLE BENEFITS- as you put it- and with taxpayer's money ! to vote BN .

    and you have the cheek to call PAS' DAKWAH to explain what is right and wrong in Islam as mere 'spiritual goodies' and equate that with the umno/BN briberies is nothing short of despicable.

    and one more thing. forget umno/BN bloggers...they can NEVER face up to anti BN bloggers.. for one very simple reason. umno/BN is indefensible.period.

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  6. greenbottle,
    and you are the typical self righteous shocktrooper who thinks he knows the UMNO specimen- and it is people like you who sneered at the joker razak baginda when he said-- i know , i just know la? haha. how you said it, puts you in the same class- oh yes i forgot to mention that i too know the Keadilan specimen, the karaoke junkie with the GRO on the lap shouting...yeehaa!.

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  7. Dear Dato,
    I can agree no more with yout thots on this article.
    We would not reject the ideas that 'Looks' play slightly heavy duty in our society. it is so called looks and aura do come and bind tightly together,yet, very important in influence volk.

    In our case of PT036 is nevertheless people might choose The Man on basis of physical manner. But in certain I would like to remind that, people also said MB Pahang have very 'garang' and 'sombong' look. Which there is quite true. And in certain factors the looks of candidate shows a load of things to his/her character.

    I may leave to das Volk in KT to lead their own way.

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  8. MT condemn Islam, Palestine, and praise Israel & Singapore most of the time. They lost my vote forever
    -Tiger lane dude-

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  9. Dato' Sak,
    Can't add anything to your commentary except to say 'Yeehah'

    Wenger J Khairy
    PS: I think Navi is a stalker.

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  10. dear sakmongkol;

    interesting that you mention 'keadilan specimen' and not PAS.

    and to call me self righteous! that's funny . i'm just stating facts. like you i wish for the best for malaysia and i don't see that umno and bn can be that or bring the best in malaysians.

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  11. I have nothing against PAS,DAP and PKR but I truly believe they can't co-exist for long.The coalition will break up, it's a matter of time.Anwar do not have the people and the nation at heart, he is the epitome of demagoguery.He kept his silence on the hudud issue for along time and suddently in KT he opened up and turn the table on UMNO.

    I think UMNO/BN has an edge in the KT by-election.

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  12. Its the troopers on the ground that will will the battle. No doubt about that. We bombed a la PadeDoh and then our troops the Special Bunch went door to door 4 times. On Sunday morning before we made our way back to KL, we went door to door again to thank the people of Kg Cina.

    Dato Sak, appreciate your congratulatory comment on my comment box. Till we meet, you will remain on my preferred list.Salam sir.

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