The East is Green, almost.(Part 1/2)

During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, China's de facto national anthem was , The East is Red. UMNO in its desperate hours came up with a de facto national anthem too entitled Janji ditepati courtesy of Madame Rais. 
What they ignore is, with the ascendency of PAS, we can also declare, The East is Green. 
Now, let us continue inspecting what goes on in the east coast states of Peninsula. In 2008 as we have said, more Malays moved away from UMNO. In Kelantan for example, despite the zillions of money poured into the state through the small number of ministers UMNO Kelantan has in the cabinet, and through the many division heads, PAS got an overall 5% vote increase.

That means rather than weakening as the mainstream media suggests, PAS is getting stronger with new adherents and supporters.  Yet we see and hear nothing from the mainstream media other than the breakdown of all forms of governance in Kelantan. Illegal logging here and there, lack of development resulting in impoverished areas, Kelantan’s infamous water problem etc. nothing appears to work in Kelantan.

On the other hand, any apolitical person who goes to Kelantan will be struck by the vibrancy and dynamism of Kelantan and its people. Of course you will see economically depressed areas simply because the government doesn’t have enough money. Since the discovery of oil, UMNO has held back RM 7.4 billion in oil royalty to the state. Despite that, on an overall basis, Kelantan has managed to keep her head high and proud. In contrast to the squandering ways of UMNO led government elsewhere, the thriftiness and prudence of the Kelantan government has created a robust and entrepreneurial society.

There is something special about the Kelantanese. Almost all the time it was under the governance of PAS which has been the opposition to UMNO. Two things developed as a result of this; (1) a different governance culture and (2) an entrepreneurial culture of the people.

Years of being marginalized has resulted in the creation of a disciplined government and a disciplined group of leadership. Umno likes to point out that PAS will breakdown if Nik Aziz were to exit from politics due to any number of reasons. This is where UMNO miscalculates grossly because it thinks other people are like them. 

That is the reason, why UMNO people and supporters say, that if anyone were to replace UMNO, things will be the same. Wrong- things will never be the same. No one can do anymore worse than what UMNO has done. Rampant corruption and abuse of power will be eliminated. Economic cronyism will be on the way out. The people will be taken off their dependency and submission to a manipulative government.

Even if PAS were to be without Nik Aziz eventually, the governance culture will remain different from UMNO because PAS is schooled in Islamic culture. Islamic principles will still govern the conduct of leaders after Nik Aziz.

The majority of people in Kelantan are Malay. If one state like Kelantan and its people are able to become UMNO-independent, the rest of Malaysia could follow. The Malays in other states need not fear if they are cut off from UMNO. Just as Kelantanese Malays have shown their dexterity, determination and courage because of small government, ALL other Malays have a living proof that things do not become worse if they are off UMNO’s back.

That is the reason despite the continuous stream of propaganda coming out from every nook and corner of the media industry which UMNO manipulates ( utusan Malaysia, Media Prima, TV3, TV9, Berita Harian, Harian Metro, Hot FM, Fly FM and even local radio stations), the people of Kelantan has remained resolute in its support for PAS and has rejected UMNO’s culture of corruption, cronyism, abuse of power and outright hostage  of Kelantan people. The people of Kelantan are providing the rest of the people in Malaysia with one important lesson- it’s possible to be off UMNO. Nothing is more important than that.

What UMNO has done, by attempting to sabotage Kelantan under PAS at every chance it gets, by isolating the state, UMNO has created the perfect laboratory for Kelantan to test ideas. The most important being, without UMNO life can be better. This is what UMNO fears most.

The most important factor that will ensure Kelantanese will survive under any environment, is the entrepreneurial culture and the most important consequence of years of PAS rule, renders UMNO as irrelevant. At the same time, if PAS were to adopt a similar governance culture like UMNO, it will also fail. While Kelantanese revere Nik Aziz, PAS isn’t going to disintegrate without him.

CONSTITUENCY	3% SWING		7 % SWING
	BN	PR	BN	PR
TUMPAT	0	1	0	1
PENGKALAN CHEPA	0	1	0	1
KOTA BHARU	0	1	0	1
PASIR MAS	0	1	0	1
RANTAU PANJANG	0	1	0	1
KUBANG KERIAN	0	1	0	1
BACHOK	0	1	0	1
KETEREH	0	1	0	1
TANAH MERAH	0	1	0	1
PASIR PUTEH	0	1	0	1
MACHANG	0	1	0	1
JELI	1	0	0	1
KUALA KRAI	1	0	0	1
GUA MUSANG	1	0	1	0
TOTAL	3	11	1	13

This coming GE13, it will be 13 for PR and 1 for BN.