Very unStatus Quo

yeah baby, who needs ya. status quo remains!

The results of the recent 3 by-elections are already known. BN won the Batang Ai seat in Sarawak. That victory is hailed as proof that it is difficult for peninsular based political parties to gain a foothold in Sarawak.

That is also proof that the people of Sarawak still loved Taib Mahmud. Never mind the fact that many still lived in longhouses without ICs while a daughter of Taib Mahmud has a RM28 million house in Canada. That's ok, because that's status quo.

In peninsular Malaysia, the PR won in Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau. I was at the scene in Bukit Gantang and accordingly gave my analyses.

But the status quo supporters were quick to point out that these victories in peninsular Malaysia do not change anything. The previous candidates in these two bukits were PR wakil rakyats. So their current victories proved nothing. The PR just got back what were theirs in the first place. Status quo remains.

That is true indeed. The victories reinforce the status quo in the sense they do not change the rakyat's anguish and rejection of BN and BN's polices.

If we were after retention of status quo in the first place, it would have been better off for everyone to give a walkover to the political parties that held the seats before the by elections. It would have been cheaper too.

In the 12^th General elections, the UMNO led government lost 5 states. It also lost Wilayah Persekutuan. That's ok. We still lose these states but its status quo.

If all the votes that went to UMNO candidates came from UMNO members, that will mean over 1 million UMNO members rejected their own candidates! We have 3.5 million members but UMNO candidates secured only around 2 million Malay votes. That is status quo.

There were about 5.7 million Malay voters in the 12^th General elections. If UMNO candidates received only 2 million votes, that meant that 3.7 million Malay voters rejected UMNO and its status quo policies.

At the end of the day, following the logic of this status-quo-remains school of thought, UMNO is the party which fights, expands and reinforces the right for the elite and the privileged few to monopolise the benefits of having power.

It is a Bumiputera party in the sense bumi is always at the rear end, while the putera bangsawans, the UMNOputeras, the elite are in the front. Indeed status quo remains in the sense we are fooled into believing that UMNO wants to change for the better.

Hence, extending the brand of perverted syllogism we conclude the following. Malays are UMNO. UMNO lost. Therefore all Malays lost. But thatsokay- its status quo!

So, like Alfred the character in the popular Mad Magazine, we will also say, "what? ME!?! worry?