D Day for Bukit Gantang.

I am stopping by at Kuala Kangsar to post this article. Then maybe I will do lunch by enjoying the famed Perak gulai tempoyak ikan patin. Let's see whether Perakians cook gulai tempoyak better than Pahang people.

Today the rakyat in Bukit Gantang will cast their votes. The outcome for this crucial by election will be decided by the 38 Pusat Mengundi and the 111 salurans. These are located within the 3 DUNs in Bukit Gantang.

1. Changkat Jering 11 voting centres
   
2. Kuala Sepetang 13
   
3. Trong/Terong 14.
   

I could see the 'hot' voting centres like SK Changkat Ibol and SRJKC Poay Eng in Kuala Sepetang. In Changkat Jering they are SK Jelutong and SK Changkat Jering while in Trong, the hotly contested voting centres are SK Padang Gajah and SJKRC Sungai Rotan.

What will be the deciding factors? What's happening to the saluran 1 and 2 consisting of mature adults?

I went around some of the above named voting centres and saw people coming out enthusiastically. I am under no illusions as to who these enthusiastic voters are going to vote. Most of those in cars stuck in traffic jams are Chinese. Their preferences were already decided.

In my mind the outcome of the elections will only go to BN if they can influence those voting in saluran 3, 4 and 5 which are made up generally of the younger generation and equally important, the Chinese voters.

Basically as I see it, the Chinese are inclined to vote for the PR. The younger generation on the whole is inclined to vote for PR.

Yesterday evening as I made my rounds in Kuala Sepetang and Changkat Jering, there were many young men distributing pamphlets. I pulled down my window and reached out to get some of the pamphlets. One is a pamphlet issued by Salahudin Ayub the PAS youth chief reaching out specifically to younger voters. The other is a pamphlet narrating a purported interview between a journalist and a PAS member of Bukit Gantang. That outlined the principles of PAS's struggle.

The integrity of these two pamphlets or even their accuracy is debatable. What attracted my interest though was the fact that these are distributed by young people who are normally associated as being disenchanted with politics. How is it possible that the younger generation such as these who are not necessarily card carrying members of PAS can now be converted to PR/PAS cause?

To me that can only indicate a monumental shift in emotional allegiance away from UMNO politics to anti UMNO politics. Perhaps they represent the disillusioned lumpen-proletarriat who can nevertheless be converted to a political cause promising them a future that seeks to correct whatever excesses, real and imagined associated with UMNO. This should be made into a humbling reminder to the UMNO leadership.

Unless the leadership can rally the younger generation who are playing a reverse role of influencing their parents, UMNO will lose this election. Hence I find it amusing a remark by a blogger friend that the under 40 represents only 30-40% of the electorate with the sublime implication that the younger set will not be a crucial determining factor.

Well, the facts culled from my own experience tell me that these young people, who are better educated and informed are now influencing their parents who to vote. So just imagine that if 40% of the 55,000 voters which is about 22,000 manage to persuade just 1 member of their family, the numbers who will vote against BN swell to 40,000.

In an earlier blog, I offered a non partisan observation saying the organisational competence and integrity of UMNO Bahagian Bukit Gantang is suspect. It is probably infected with internal dissension manifested in turn by a clear lack of determination and commitment to see UMNO win. This factor is another crucial determinant in this by elections.

Against this background and supplanted by my observations on the scene, my prediction for Bukit Gantang will be as follows; PAS will take the Kuala Sepetang and Changkat Jering DUNs while UMNO will marginally win Trong. The winner in this election will be the much maligned and ill treated NIzar.

The outcome has already been written in the stars.

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TDM comes a calling.

 

Tun Dr Mahathir has always been a straight talker. By his own admission he is not an artful craftsman with words unlike the other fellow he knows very well. The other fellow is in Bukit Selambau I think. If TDM goes to Bukit Selambau after this, he will be chasing after Anwar (?). The mountain does not move. When it moved, the protagonist in Kagemusha lost.

Today, Monday he is in Bukit Gantang. He was speaking at the Padang PPP at Simpang in Bukit Gantang. He is doing his bit to shore up support for the BN candidate for Bukit Gantang.

He was in his element with his straight talking style. Maybe it's the sceptical me inside, but this time, I feel that TDM is not his fiery self. During his speech, he talked mostly about tangential issues. He was more elaborative on the stories surrounding his onetime protégé now turned nemesis. He is asking the people of Bukit Gantang not to be beguiled by Anwar Ibrahim.

The people of Bukit Gantang may have been regaled by TDM. After all he was our leader for 22 years. Most had come to catch a glimpse of the man who has been very critical of UMNO these few years. He has just rejoined UMNO. As to seeing this as a personal fight between TDM and Anwar Ibrahim, as TDM himself said, the people of Bukit Gantang are not stupid.

I scanned the sea of people who had come to see him. Most of them are outsiders who had come to Bukit Gantang to help out in this election. I saw a number of familiar faces from Pekan, the ketua wanita and her deputy were right in front.

Suddenly it struck me- where are those in saluran 3, 4 and 5? These are the ones who are going to make the difference in this election. They are missing. Then I remembered, I saw them in droves at the ceramahs held by the PR people. That was yesterday.

We will see whether TDM's presence here is impactful or not. I am not going to add to my frustrations by admitting that perhaps, TDM has come too late to the scene. The spirit is willing, the body isn't there.

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A secretive society?

 

Our first stop yesterday night was to stop at a curiously named mass gathering. It was named as perlancaran pertubuhan klab anak jati bukit gantang. I was wondering what it was.

It turned out to be a launching of an organisation to mobilise the locals born in Bukit Gantang. It was meant to be an organisation for the brotherhood of Bukit Gantangians. The BN candidate Ismail Safian is a local born.

It was almost 10 pm. The MC announced that the BN candidate will be coming. The gathering was mostly attended by young people in red t-shirts. I wondered if they are of voting age. One thing that was immediately noticeable, we saw more chairs than people which they were supposed to accommodate. There were probably 1000 attendees if one counts the empty chairs, lamp posts and occasional chickens.

Then suddenly, the MC announced the candidate has arrived. As if on cue, the boys and girls trooped assembling themselves to greet the BN candidate. The speakers blared out the UMNO Song.

It turned out the MC made a mistaken announcement. The candidate has not arrived yet- he was still caught up somewhere in Matang. The traffic jam was preventing him coming here on time. More about the jam later.

Moments later, the MC once gain announced- we are pleased to announce that Dato Mukhriz is here. Some puteri and youth rushed towards Mukhriz to welcome him. They didn't lose time to have their photographs taken with the usually stiffed Mukhriz. That was about the only highlight of the night at this Perlancaran Klab Anak Jati Bukit Gantang.

I know Bukit Gantang is near Taiping. It is in the state of Perak. It was made notorious by the incessant fighting between secret society members a long time ago, Ghee Hin and Hai San.

Perhaps, the anak Bukit Gantangians have actually learnt something from Perak history. They are moved to induct themselves in a secret society like sub organisation and why not call it kelab anak jati bukit gantang? In time maybe they could even rival Pekida. Maybe they thought without even 1000 attendees yesterday, they could win this Bukit Gantang Elections.

What's with the fetish about creating an organisation consisting of homogenous brownshirts? Was this meant to whip up some clannish instincts to the exclusion of others? I think this kind of organisation is sending the wrong message in this election. The UMNO national leadership is moving towards inclusiveness but the rank and file are still stuck with provincial ideas.

But then perhaps, taking a cue from the BN candidate, I may send a petition to DS Najib asking him to be the MP for Kuala Lipis instead of Pekan. He is after all not an anak jati Pekan. So when Malaysians go on behaving in this fiendish way, I am sceptical whether they have warmed up the idea of One Malaysia, Performance now, people first.

Since the launching wasn't about to start soon, we decided to make our way back to the car. A Chinese man riding a motorcycle stopped to ask. Helo kawan, sudah lama ini ceramah mula? I answered- kawan, belum start lagi. You mana mari? He answered he just came back from listening to Nik Aziz and Anwar Ibrahim. Manyak jam sana maa....

Then it dawned upon me that was the traffic jam that trapped our BN candidate.

We drove on towards Simpang passing through throngs of cars and people listening to PR ceramah. In the distance we could hear Teressa Kok holding court. Thousands of people with skullcaps and headscarves were there. At the back of our car, we saw a lorry with PAS flags hoisted on the back carriage. The people manning and holding the flags were Indians!

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Despatches from the Front- Bukit Gantang

We travelled to Bukit Gantang to get a first hand feel of the political heartbeat. From Kuantan, it took us probably half a day to get into Bukit Gantang. I never realised it's that far. We cut through Genting Highlands and got out through Ulu Yam en route to Perak.

We were supposed to stay at the Taping Golf Resort. We decided against it because we thought it is a little bit far from the centre of Bukit Gantang politics. We finally managed to get a place to stay in the town of Taiping. It is at the Panorama Hotel.

The MP for Taiping is getting himself into hot soup by reciting a Quranic verse. He is bound to raise a storm because he is a non Muslim reciting the verse incorrectly.

I am not sure about the shariah implications of a non Muslim reciting the Quran as he did. But my take, if he wanted to recite it, he must take full responsibility in ensuring that he recited in correctly and in the correct manner.

His foul up will surely alienate Muslim voters. If not for any other reason, then his belligerent and aggressive utterance of the verse will be used as a clear indication that this DAP MP will not hesitate to abuse what to the Malay is dearest to his heart- his Islamic religion.

His patently wrong rendition of the verse will be taken as an insult to Malay Muslims. I am sure religious tolerance in Islam does not stretch to a patently clear abuse of religious sentiments. That is clearly a stupid thing to do.

I used the term rendition as I assumed the MP must have thought reciting a Quranic verse is similar to singing at a Karaoke session. It also ties up nicely with what I want to share with readers.

The one thing I immediately noticed in Taiping and in areas such as Kuala Sepetang and at Kampung Simpang are the karaoke warungs offering karaoke facilities. They are done outdoors. In full public view. At a warung at Kuala Sepetang, two ladies were singing and gyrating at the beat of a dangdut number. It was loud as we could hear the tune as we slowed our vehicle alongside the road. An innocent pastime such as karaoke reveals a lot politically.

Having commented on the damning indiscretion on the part of the Taiping MP, as a first account witness in the unfolding political verdict in Bukit Gantang, I will try to give an honest analysis of the situation. As we made our rounds at the various ceramah points in Bukit Gantang, I mentioned to my fellow observers that honesty is indeed the best policy. In as much as I want to be optimistic about the chances in Bukit Gantang, such a take will surely be regarded as a deceptive exaggeration and misplaced over optimism.

The chances of BN winning this seat at Bukit Gantang appear slim. Let us try to dissect the basic psychology of the people in Bukit Gantang.

The ubiquitous open air karaoke warungs partaken enthusiastically by patrons in full public view suggest that the people in Bukit Gantang are not serious about the outcome of this political battle. At the microcosmic level of society, this indicates a pervasive nonchalant attitude of Bukit Gantang society. I am sad to say, these popular recreational activities are most evidenced in UMNO areas. If you are not serious about the outcome of this by elections, then why should others be concerned about the outcome in Bukit Gantang?

Such attitude could not have been more contrasted by the determination and seriousness clearly shown by the opposition party men. We saw a group of elderly Malay men in their sarongs and skullcaps doing their rounds putting up election buntings and posters. The young meanwhile were going in droves to the ceramahs by Anwar Ibrahim, Nik Aziz and Teressa Kok. My friends commented that Elizabeth Wong would certainly draw a bigger crowd.

I talked to a few penceramahs from the BN about the first impression they get from this elections. Without hesitation they told me of their disappointment over the organisational clumsiness of UMNO Bahagian Bukit Gantang.

The people here seemed to have abandoned their basic responsibilities. They prefer to let outsiders do their job for them.

These two seemingly isolated behaviours cast ominous signs for the BN. The first is the casual attitude displayed at the primary level of society. The second is the absence of local leadership. I sincerely hope, these two elements will not prove fatal to the BN's chances in Bukit Gantang.

The early signs of internal decay which can only hasten the BN downfall in Bukit Gantang are seen when the leadership here abandons their responsibilities and prefer to farm out the more important basic functions to outsiders.

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PM’s Challenge for Progress

In his maiden speech, the PM said:-

I remain committed to the goals of tackling poverty; of restructuring our society; of expanding access to quality education for all; and of inspiring a new generation of young Malaysians to work on behalf of this great country.

All these things he mentioned affect the Malays most. They formed the largest group with higher incidence of poverty. They are locked structurally in economic pursuits which offer relatively lower added returns. Their mobility across economic structures is hampered by lack of skills and deficiencies in training.

My attention is particularly drawn to the last part of the PM's message, that of inspiring a new generation of young Malaysians.

Inspiring the young Malay is an even trickier endeavour and objective. You inspire with self propelling values and setting achievable objectives.

I am loath to bring up this subject; lately I have been reading quite a bit about Singapore's history, in particular refreshing my reading on Lee Kuan Yew. Many find the mere mention of Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew revolting. Personally I find this attitude very self defeating as we can learn or at least look at our own set of problems from a different perspective.

Consider the formation of Malaysia as illustration. Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore supported the idea of a Malaysia. His premise of a Malaysia was quire in contrast to the premise of a Malaysia held by Tunku Abdul Rahman.

TAR was sold to the concept of a Malaysia built on the idea that Malays would always be the senior partner in a unified Malaysia and being a senior partner, was entitled to a few privileges. Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore viewed Malaysia as a modern state which must aim at delivering economic prosperity to all while moving to the ideal of equality of status and opportunity for all, regardless of race.

My question: how could descendants of displaced people (Chinese and Indians) persistently and doggedly pursue this concept of Malaysia for all? It was a powerful motivation fuelled by what?

I can only see two dominant and powerful factors here; (a) absolute faith in the rule of law which accorded everyone equal legal rights and (b) absolute confidence in one's own ability and capabilities. Most important is the belief that with one's ability and capability, the appropriate and just rewards will accrue.

Now, when our PM speaks of inspiring the young who are malleable and impressionable, the foundations that make a Malaysian nation need to be spelt out clearly.

The foundations must include an ideology of struggle. This will involve accelerating the process of history and even re-writing history. I am talking about history being a sum total of our collective experience.

Question: since 1970 what has been our collective experience? It has been sadly, a history of 'give me welfare' or 'give me crutches' way of moving the Malays that's even elevated to an all consuming ideology. We can justify the application of this give me welfare policy on the infirmed, the truly dispossessed, the hard core poor. It would be unpropitious however, to apply the policy wholesale as to include the Malays en masse under this policy.

Hence, perhaps the objective of inspiring a new generation of young Malaysians to work on behalf of this great country
must involve the re-writing of recent Malay history? Because to my mind, the re-writing of recent Malay history is crucial to acquire:-

1. Absolute confidence in one's own ability and capabilities.
   
2. The belief that with one's ability and capability, the appropriate and just rewards will accrue.
   

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Challenge and Response- PM Najib

In the coming weeks, I will be consulting with people around our country, as I begin to reshape the leadership and priorities of the Government. I am mindful that we should build on the successes and lessons of the past. It must be a government with new approaches for new times – a government that places a priority on performance, because the people must come first.

We must reach out to all parts of Malaysia…to all our diverse communities. In our national discourse and in pursuing our national agenda, we must never leave anyone behind. We must reach out to the many who may have been disaffected and left confused by political games, deceit and showmanship.

The above passages were extracted from the maiden speech of DS Najib as the 6^th PM of Malaysia. Sakmongkol joins the rest of the nation (minus the 81 MPs and some petition signers) in welcoming our PM.

The ascension of DS Najib marks the beginning of a government and leadership which are achievement oriented. It will be a government with a 'will this work' approach. It will also be a government which will be inclusive leaving no one behind.

It will be a government moving with quiet confidence eschewing political gamesmanship, deceit and showmanship.

I think DS Najib will agree with anyone who says it is too early to judge and generalise his approach in government. It will also be on the other hand, a reflection of goodwill on our part, to give him a chance to prove himself in what he does.

The release of 13 detainees and lifting the ban on opposition papers cannot be total reflection of what the PM and our country's leadership will do. One swallow does not make an Indian summer. For now though, his initial actions are pleasantly sufficient to indicate a leader who moves to establish his imprimatur.

A few days before the UMNO General Assembly when Sakmongkol had the opportunity to talk to him( no, I am not his adviser nor do I mention this episode to suggest that I am close to him or whatever other things detractors may wish to interpret), DS Najib appeared very serenely confident and mentally geared to step into the PMship.

One of the things DS Najib mentioned was factoring in Tun Dr Mahathir. I am beginning to realise and I hope this will be so, that factoring in TDM does not necessarily mean that TDM must be physically present in the present government makeup.

A more relevant thing to do, as a mark of factoring in TDM, is to infuse a decisive leadership. A decisive leadership in turn does not necessarily mean a repressive and dismissive ruling approach. DS Najib has already shown an early indication by stating that he wishes to be inclusive. He is committed to strengthening the institutional foundations of a democratic society. The release of the ISA detainees and the lifting of the ban on opposition newspapers are early indicators of his leadership desirous of engaging diverse viewpoints.

The factoring in of TDM may mean being respectable of TDM and his 22 years of accomplishment. It may mean honouring his ideas and most relevantly by adopting a decisive leadership. It will not mean however an absolute and flattering acquiescence and obeisance to what TDM wants.

DS Najib has started on a promising note by posing some big challenges. These include his commitment to strengthen the institutional foundations of a democratic society, to be inclusive and insistent on being judged on performance. The last challenge appears to be a pragmatic stance of a leader who refuses to be absolutely tied to the past.

I hope the creation of challenges in a Toynbeean setting will evoke the necessary responses. I join many of us likeminded citizens in hoping DS Najib will be a leader of a creative leadership minority. Once again, I join millions of others, in wishing him well and Godspeed.

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An Ideology of Struggle.

My last post invited many comments. In a way, the more than one hundred comments obliterated the first two sardonic remarks to my article. The first two mordant comments had suggested derisively, that I take a rest. I am being incoherent they say.

Fortunately their views were not shared by subsequent comments. Those who followed later were interested to offer views and constructive criticisms. In the end, this article has generated a lively debate.

To me, this reflects the emerging character of Malaysian society. The first two comments represent the old and discredited way by which those who hold power explain away things. The preferred way of these dysfunctional autocrats is to impose their views on an unquestioning public. Indeed they assume and hold the belief that the audience to whom they wish to engage are just muted digits. Thus those who provide a medium for participatory and contending ideas to jostle with one another are told to shut up.

The purveyors of this approach will be things of the past. It will give way to an atmosphere of inclusive discourse. People challenge ideas put forth. They find meaning in debating issues confronting them. By doing so, they demolish the xenophobic monopoly long held exclusively by those wishing to mentally subjugate others.

The post was meant to stir up interest. In questioning some of the basis on which Malay society operates, I hope we can enhance our understanding on what makes a society progressive.

The remarks by one commentator, which I reproduced here, deserve some response.

• but I am surprise that it comes from you when you mentioned about WEALTH and the wealthy in Malaysia.All this while it has been accepted that no matter who is the wealthiest ,it no longer means one race is less richer.
  
• Nobody can ever claim that they got rich and richest without contribution among the other races in this country and is actually a pride shared by everyone that there are NOUVEAU rich Malaysians among us celebrating the thought that it is the Malaysian environment that has allowed them to where they are.
  

I have broken the comments into 2 sections. The first baffles me because it assumes away the glaring economic disparity between races. The very reason why the government carried out affirmative economic policies is because they don't accept all this while that it does not matter which section of society is richer than the other.

The second baffles me even more, because it seems to unreservedly accept this scheme of things.

Both are not healthy for our society. The bonding element that cements our society must be economic justice. We debate about this later.

But the more frightening message in these comments (perhaps unintended by the author) is the sense of hopelessness and unwillingness to struggle to make things better. It's ok to accept disparity and social injustices. It is sufficient and healthy for society if one section is better off.

Where is our ideology of struggle? Our leaders speak of life being a struggle or that our struggle is never completed, yet the import of the meaning of such phrases is lost on many who are yet unmoved. Can we accept a life that is devoid of a constant struggle to achieve?

What scares me more and I hope I am wrong here, is the subtle suggestion that we accept whatever is foisted on us as a fulfilment without having to resort to an ideology of struggle. As a result we accept things as they are.

Can we live in such a placid society? Pushed to the extreme, in the particular case of the Malays, while we want material benefits and economic advancements, we are contented with unfair economic arrangements. That its ok if we are left behind, that in the name of one Malaysia, as long as we can at least share in the happiness to see one section of the community pulls ahead of us, our society is healthy.

What about the portion of society left behind? Are we contented in defending the status quo?

Hence we have a society divided. One section is composed of the fortunate ones because we allowed them to become so, the other, consists of the less fortunate because we allowed to become so too. How do we explain this to be so? The inadvertent answer is because the Malaysian environment has made this so.

The question is, if the environment that presides over all of us is common, how is it that one section can pull ahead of us, while the rest stagnates? Could it be that the section that pulls ahead has inside them, an ideology of struggle imbued? That perhaps the response to the Toynbeean challenge within that section of society left behind has not been adequate?

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