I refer to the Malaysiakini report Unexpected 42% rise in non-Malay BN support .

The constituents of Bagan Pinang have made their choice. Mohd Isa Samad was always a popular personality with the local populace. Zulkefly Omar of PAS - even with the wholehearted support of Pakatan Rakyat - was a novice. So in any case, the victor has nothing to shout about.

One thing is clear, that in politics, if the contestant is extremely popular with the local populace, the chances of losing the battle and the war are slim. Maybe that is why PM Najib Razak’s spin doctors may have advised him to make the announcement that the offence of money politics for which Mohd Isa Samad was found guilty of and suspended for three years, was a ‘technical matter’.

Further, it was clear from the start that almost all the entire Umno divisional machinery supported Mohd Isa Samad meaning it was fully supported by the federal government.

With that state of affairs being the order of the campaign period, the eventual outcome had been written on the wall. Consequently, the outcome cannot by any yardstick be taken as a fatal blow to the Pakatan Rakyat. But then, what is commendable, is the over 5,000 vote majority that Mohd Isa Samad, obtained over his vanquished opponent.

This was a formidable result, especially since Mohd Isa Samad had virtually been absent from the political scene for some three years or more.

Be that as it may, the majority of the constituents are from the working class. The people are generally poor. They are neither chauvinistic nor aware of the endemic corruption that plagues this nation, where the prime movers and shakers are from Umno.

But nonetheless, when we explore the commendable and formidable majority which Mohd Isa Samad secured and examine it with the perception of the poor people, it would not be too difficult to make or draw a conclusion.

This is owing to the fact that in our everyday life and interaction with the poor or the people who fall within the lower strata of life, we have found and are aware that these poor people’s perceptions can be shaped and changed by the material well-being of a person in power or the organisation that he belongs to and identifies himself with.

It is a fact of life that when a public personality is materially well-off and shows actual humility and is friendly, he would be able to shape the poor man’s perception both materially and ideologically. It must be noted that the constituents comprise of rural people who are either fishermen, estate workers, owners of small-scale businesses or industries or family-run businesses. To wake them up to be revolutionary and conscious is a hope based on blind faith.

Therefore, the approach taken by Pakatan Rakyat in endeavouring to raise a host of the issues that are of public knowledge to the city folks such as racism, corruption and other issues which have been of grief concern to our civil society, could not raise the eye-brows of these rural people especially since Mohd Isa Samad was their home-grown boy and he had the touch of actual humility.

Pakatan Rakyat has to learn that they cannot expect every class of people to listen to their oratory pieces and react with a revolutionary consciousness to bring about a change in civil society as a whole.

To put it politely, Pakatan Rakyat must first and foremost put its house in order. PKR and PAS and to name two individuals within their parties, that is, Zulkefli Nordin and Dr Hasan Ali seem to think they are too smart. But in the eyes of the city voting populace, they only explicit show how shallow is their knowledge of the political sphere in which they operate, based on the aspirations of the people for change in the Barisan Natsonal system of government.

Therefore as Lim Kit Siang has stated as reported: ‘The Pakatan Leaders must stop being shy about the need to demonstrate discipline and common sense of purpose at all levels in the coalition’.

Now since the oratory from the power blocs have been heard loud and clear in Bagan Pinang and since the constituents have resoundingly decided to elect Mohd Isa Samad, does it mean that Najib by stating that Isa being found guilty of money politics is a ‘technical matter’ has ‘institutionalised corruption?’

It looks like the jury is not out on this matter.