steadyaku47

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Intellectual process of choice between BN and PR or why the people voted for Pakatan Rakyat


Much has been done to try and understand from where the vote of confidence given by the people of Malaysia to Pakatan Rakyat in the 12th General Election in 2008 came from. And much has been said about the shift in loyalty from BN to PR but let us look at this reality.

The numbers of those who have traditionally voted for DAP before 2008 have numerically been small. Enough to win DAP a few constituencies but never a State!

Those with PAS might enable them to give BN a fight in Trengganu but it would not be a sure thing. Only Kelantan is PAS dulu, kini and maybe selama lama nya!

PKR has not been around long enough to have any claims to a proven vote base that they could depended upon. It is still to be seen if those that voted for PKR in the 12th general election will vote PKR again this time around. Lembah Pantai is already on shaky ground even as we speak!

What have made the difference in the 2008 elections were those voters who chose to vote for Pakatan Rakyat through an intellectual process – all it means is that the majority of Malaysian voters made a conscious effort to understand the issues and choices available to them when they voted for Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat. In the main, intellect not race or religion decided the outcome of the 12th general elections and BN lost big time!

Some thought it essential and reasonable to vote PaKatan Rakyat because Barisan Nasional needed to be taught a lesson in humility in order for them stop endemic corruption and the arrogance of power that defined the UMNO’s led Barisan Nasional. 

Some wanted to see a strong and effective opposition to keep those in government honest.

And some wanted change and Pakatan Rakyat promised that change.

But all these votes were given conditionally – conditionally to their reasons for voting becoming a reality!

If Barisan Nasional did learn a lesson from their losses at the 12th general election these “intellectuals” might go back to voting for Barisan Nasional.

If they see that an effective opposition has been  good for the country then they will again vote to ensure a strong opposition – be it BN or PR.

If the change Pakatan Rakyat promised did happen, then they will vote again for Pakatan Rakyat!

So this is why I say that the votes taken from Barisan Nasional and given to Pakatan Rakyat in 2008 were conditional.

UMNO did instituted change within our economy and our society but the changes they made were largely for the interest of UMNO and Barisan Nasional not for the people. However in making these changes UMNO inadvertently reinvented the Malays and the non-Malays. Reinvented them in the way they think and they way they look at each other.

For a start the Malay Intellectuals were indignant at that manner in which the Malays and the non-Malays were being treated – and they were sufficiently committed and passionate about this to do something about it!

They started by discussing this amongst themselves; amongst their non-Malay friends and very soon race and inequality were no longer a taboo subject banned from open discussion by the ISA. The catalyst that enabled these discussions to spread to all Malaysian was the Internet. Now any one and every one could self publish their thoughts and their take on this once forbidden subject. And we must not forget the role Petra and other bloggers contributed to the dynamism of this new medium that enabled us all to participate in these discussions. And this is still in evidence today as the Internet is still the platform of choice to vent our frustrations and passions on these matters

And the Malay intellectuals soon realized that their non-Malay counterparts were as indignant as they were in these matter. And in these beginnings was the epicentre of the earthquake that caused the tsunami that overwhelmed Barisan Nasional at the 12th general elections.

UMNO failed to keep up with the change mentality of Malaysians and in failing to do so sounded their death knell! UMNO hears but no longer listens to the voices of the people…and for this they paid a very high price – lost votes. Nobody in UMNO had the character, the leadership or the intelligence to understand this reality and tell UMNO that it was out of touch with the new psyche of these Malaysians back in 2008!

The Malays numerical superiority can no longer be depended upon to support UMNO unconditionally.The question now for the 13th general elections is whom will these transient intellectuals vote for this time around – and for what reason? What we are all agreed on is that neither BN nor PR has control over how they will vote.

Just as these intellectuals were critical of what Barisan Nasional leaders have failed to do while in government, they too are now critical of what Pakatan Rakyat has failed to do since 2008.
 
‘But the real test of leadership – amongst all the test of policy, judgement, politics and ability – is whether, in the final analysis, you put the country first” and are you “ultimately, prepared to put what you perceived to be the common good of the nation before your own political self”
Tony Blair

And this is what BN and PR leaders must ask of themselves. Who amongst them have failed to do this?

Can we believe that what Najib have done since he became Prime Minister has been for the country and not for himself and the political interest of UMNO and BN?

As Minister of Defence did Najib put the interest of our country first in the purchase of the Scorpene Submarines or did he put the interest of his crony Razak Baginda ahead of all other considerations?

As DPM did Najib put the interest of our country first when he engineered the take over of Perak? He did it not through the ballot box but through the use of money, coercion and deceit. All questionably legal and certainly not in the interest of our country.

And as PM was not his decision to descend into gutter politics to neutralize his political nemesis something our country could do without?

Najib had been tried and tested many times and each time he has put the interest of self and party before country.

Anwar had fared no better. I do not intend to go further into this other then to say that his political self has always been his first priority.

Even as we are discussing the pros and cons of having either of them as leaders attention is already upon the question as to who will be their successor? But this is an issue to be addressed by their respective peers. We can propose, they dispose!

The people who have made that difference in the 12th general election are now asking themselves what they must do at the 13th general election?

You read what I write about Anwar, about Azmin, about PKR and you conclude that I am now with UMNO! They read what I write and they will form their own conclusion as to the credibility of what I post on steadyaku47. Whether I am with UMNO or not is not their concern. What matters are the facts and line of reasoning that I use – plausible or not? 
And who are they? They are the voters who will vote with their hearts, their minds and their hopes for a better Malaysia for all of us. They know what Najib do. What Anwar do. They have access to all the information they need to form an opinion. Some have already made up their mind and some are still deciding. You make them understand your point of view by putting across rational and believable arguments to support your cause.

We say ABU  - they too say ABU - but it is a conditional ‘Yes”. Conditional that ABU comes with a better alternative to UMNO. Conditional to having a leader better then Najib. So their “YES’ to ABU is actually to ask “Who in place of UMNO?” This is just not reality but this is progress.

And there are enough of them out there to vote us in or out. The sooner we understand this, the earlier we start making them understand that our side of the divide is better then the other side under BN.

Why has Najib not decided on an election date? Right now any one can win the election. PR or BN – it is that close. Najib hopes that soon PR will make a mistake, the mood of the public will change to favour BN….that DSAI or any of the PR leaders will slip up or any of the state government under PR will be expose for abuse of power and anything else that will give the advantage to BN.

But ask yourself this. Why is Najib able to give Razak Baginda the RM$500 million commission for our government purchase of the Scorpene Submarines? Why are the Police so riddle with corrupt practices and kill so many in their custody? Why are MACC and the Judiciary opening themselves to ridicule and contempt from the public in the things that they do? Why has NFC happened and why has no decisive action been taken by the authorities to hold those in charge of it accountable?   

The truth of it all is that all these things happen because of people like you and me. We allowed it to happen because of our apathy. Our acceptance that these are the way things are done in Malaysia.   And we are responsible because we voted this UMNO led Barisan Nasional government into power. 

If we had done the right thing and voted for change many years ago, do you think we will have what we have now? A corrupt, diseased and arrogant UMNO that now has the audacity to ask for another term in government to put right what they cannot put right for the last 53 years?
 
It is time we make sure that these things will not happen again. We want ABU but we want a responsible and accountable alternative to UMNO. And the intellectual and thinking public will insists on it. And their votes will make the difference to being in government or being in opposition. Do the sums and work it out for yourselves.

I am not preaching anything radical when I write that PR needs to change – it is PR that needs to understand how these people are looking at them. And PR must do the necessary to ensure that it secures their support at the 13th General Elections. You already have ours!


16 comments:

  1. The battle cry in 2008 was to deny BN/UMNO their two-third majority in parliament. It was thought that such a political scenario would instill a sense of good governance in the incumbent ruling party, that they would buck up and address the ills prevailing in our country. Sadly, that has not happened.
    BN has not shown itself to be capable of good governance with or without their two-third majority. For the coming 13th GE, the question to ask is whether they still deserve another term in office ?

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  2. Steadyaku47 is a better writer than RPK and not arogant too.

    Thank you Sir.

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  3. Yes Sein, we want ABU and it must be a responsible and accountable alternative to UMNO/BN. Definitely it has to be conditional upon them being much much better that the current government. Otherwise we shall kick them out at the following GE, hopefully UMNO/BN is ready to be a better alternative then.

    We must show them that we are the boss. Enough of elected representatives acting as if they are lords.

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  4. February 14, 2012 5:59:00 PM GMT+10:30
    2008, we could not get rid of UMNO therefore settled for denying BN a 2/3 majority.

    GE13 is not about BN deserving another term. BN would have been voted out a long time ago if only Malaysians in general were not stupid.

    GE 13 must be about us, thus ABU.

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  5. Pok LI,

    hopefully UMNO/BN is ready to be a better alternative then.

    You still harbour hope for UMNO to repent? I won't be nostalgic about UMNO should I get to see the back of it.

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  6. Bachin,it is becoming clearer now you are are a newly recruited mercenary cypertrooper. You dare not blog direct against PR for fear your tembelang will pecah. Look before it is not everyday thatyou blog, but now it is almost everyday sofar. I guess that is their condition to. Anyway since you haveto survive especially in a foreign country hentam lah while you have the oppertunity.After the election they dont need you any more

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  7. Anon 8:20:00, its nothing to do with being nostalgic about anyone. Normally when a ruling party loses power it will go into soul searching mode. Leaders who are responsible for the loss will be abandoned by party members and they will elect new leaders who can lead them to challenge the newly elected government. This will especially happen to a party like UMNO/BN as their leaders currently hang on to power using rakyat's money. Without money they will crumble.

    As for PR, there's no guarantee that those who will be in high positions if they come to power will not be corrupted. Haven't you heard of the saying 'power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely'?

    My hope is for the country to have both corrupt free ruling government and opposition. Or is it fat hope, wishful thinking?

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  8. No try no gain.If people still instill the "hantu" mentality in their minds they are actually killing themselves.This bloody corrupt BN goverment will not change forever.They are used to their lavish lifestyle without knowing what happens to the ordinary rakyat on the street.This coming election is not about talking cock about Anwar, Azmin or PKR.It's about future of this country.This country has become stagnant economicaly since 1997 because of bloody corrupted regime.Only business people noticed, where businesses are slow and no signs of recovery.You see how South Korea is progressing since early 80's?They were on par with this country and yet Malaysia is going backwards in all fields.Because bloody blood sucking regime siphoning money by deceiving the rakyat and yet you ask people to vote a failed goverment.Give a chance for other people to run the country as this country is becoming doom by days.

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  9. I accept the fact that the PR state governments have their shortcoming and within this short period of 4 years we cannot expect very much from them. Also we have to consider problems they have to face when dealing with the power in the Federal Government. Based on that the PR states have done considerable good within these short period. Anyway or anyhow I still go the change and give the PR a longer period to rule and let them have more decisive power to implement things. Therefore they must given the power to rule at Federal level. Form that level we can see and judge better their ability to govern. We have given the present regime more than half century to rule and things become worse come to this point. Only now we can observe they try to change and I believe that also due to the things been done by the PR state governments or the promises given by the PR leaders if they take control of Putrajaya. But then why must we stick to the present regime who is trying to copy offers promised by the PR if the future PR government itself can offer such promises. If the future PR government failed to justify their promises or failed to satisfy us then we still can switch back to another regime, may be back to regime of the present government who may be by that time has learned the lesson from the defeat and rejection from the voters.

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  10. PR must be given a chance to rule so that the public can gauge their performance. Just like in Indonesia, after the change of govt., corruption has already gone down considerably and even someone has said no more corruption. We need a clean govt. like Singapore, then we can compete with them.

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  11. Perak was wonderful until 3 fellers jumped ship. Selangor also OK until Hassan Ali turned rabid. How to really read people before voting? Look at that Asri character - a string of rational statements over the years and then WHAM, he sees the deportation of the Saudi sucker as "good"!

    I think better to leave the candidates to the party leadership to sort out warts and all, and concentrate on voter registration.

    But the big question is how do we fight against the large-scale "tampering" with the electoral roll? Even the best candidates cannot win against a stacked deck made up of EC, Police, Judiciary, MACC and now even Immigration!

    So what to do? Cry at the palace gates? Or wait for spring maybe?

    SAM

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  12. Anon 4:14:00, you are absolutely correct. While we are arguing "intellectually", UMNO/BN is tampering voters roll big time. That is not to mention other riggings and election corruptions. Whether Nurul can defend her Lembah Pantai seat is also uncertain. Let's stop all the rhetorical debates and lend our assistance to PR in whatever way we can. The debates can continue after GE13.

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  13. change - malaysians voters must pursue change_ the nation is saddled with big time corruption by the billions. poor economic policies - no meaningful nation building policies- poor health care system n no forward looking policies>> we have COW leaders now. no wonder our nation is in a big MESS NOW. 456 billion in debts ?? how to repay

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  14. It does not matter how bad is Pakatan. It is still better than BeEnd.

    Look at Pakatan managed well in Penang?

    When Pakatan takes over from BeEnd, they would work together well like the ones we see in Selangor and Penang.

    BeEnd especially the MCA and Gerakan, MIC and PBBS, are too much corrupted and incapable. These people are just helping UMNO to be corrupted and corrupted.

    Mathir is good to have mega projects because thru mega projects, billion Ringgit could be given out to his cronies.

    Look at how rich is Taib? www.sarawakreport.org. See his billion RM property portfolia there!

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  15. BN or PR....both are kotek kambing so really what other alternative do we have....maybe sup torpedo. Bombs away.

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  16. Steady,

    Apa dah jadi? Keyboard rosak ke?

    Semoga dapat ilham baru untuk jadikan ABU kenyataan.

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