Same Chance as my opponent

Friends asked me- we hear you are contesting in Raub. What’s the population breakdown there?

I tell them the breakdown- 49% Malays, 44% Chinese and the balance Indians and others.

What? Can you win there? The Malays will not take kindly that you are standing on DAP ticket.

The questions asked are based on several faulty assumptions.

One, UMNO does not own the Malays. UMNO depends on the Malays, not the other way round. Moreover it depends on a special type of Malays. They belonged to that group who is constantly overwhelmed by the siege mentality refusing to believe that rights, positions, all things held dear are protected by a government upholding the rule of law. A government that does that secures allegiance from all. A government that rules on the wanton use of discretion secures allegiance only from those who subscribe to the philosophy of UMNO and owes their living from UMNO’s patronage.

That small group of misled people will of course continue to cling on to UMNO. We have no quarrel with them indeed sympathizing with them for having succumbed to UMNO brainwashing machine.

But let the UMNO Malays face facts. In 2008, more Malays voted for the opposition than for UMNO. UMNO candidates got slightly more than 2 million votes from 5.7 million Malay voters. So UMNO goes into the election believing falsely, it still has control over the minds of right thinking Malays.

The UMNO people are aiming their invectives and bile toward the opposition for having problems with the choice of candidates. But nothing compares to the incendiary revolt within UMNO itself. Busloads of supporters of ditched candidates are making their way to the Malay rulers asking for relief. But they will fail in the end, and their ground machinery will not be at optimum. They will close their operation centres or even turned them into PR operations rooms.

We shall not let our guards down, because, we do our work in spite of UMNO and BN. their internal feuds are of no concern to us. The Malay rulers will say, while they sympathise with the delegation, they are above politics. End of story and we hope their anger and frustration will convert into widespread support for us.

Daim Zainudin once told me as soon as UMNO candidates are announced, UMNO’s power is reduced to around 70%.

The assumption of course is that I can only win if enough Malays support me. I believe there will be sufficient number of enlightened and farsighted Malays in Raub who will support me. I believe I enjoy the same chances as does my opponent in winning Raub.

What can you tell of a person who doesn’t enjoy trust from his own people?

If the assumption is that you can only win if you have Malay support then UMNO would have won all. The fact is the Malays don’t give unqualified support anymore. The Malays are already rejecting UMNO politics. Like others they hate the crony controlled economy, corruption driven projects, race based politics. That was why UMNO actually lost peninsula Malaysia in 2008. It can be done again this time around. Add that to the losses UMNO gets in Sabah and more seats in Sarawak, the end has come.