There is something in common between the May 13, 1963 racial riots and the March 8, 2008 general election. In both these tension-filled incidents, the BN coalition in its arrogance, refused to accept the truth that peace cannot be bought and must be made.

May 13 was the defining moment for Malaysians, to never again take racial harmony in the country for granted. But with the passing of time, this painful lesson was dismissed in the needs of the moment.

As life gives us all a second chance, so too it was for BN,  this time after its disastrous losses in the 12th general election in 2008.

Unfortunately, both these chances failed to humble BN - the politicians, be they in Umno, MCA or MIC, kept playing their dirty games, all at the expense of the rakyat . Their shenanigans are well known by the people and yet these politicians shamelessly keep at it, spinning the wheel of their undesirable intentions, all but aimed at taking back power from the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, an underdog fast becoming popular with the rakyat.

Wake up call

When Barisan Nasional lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament to Pakatan Rakyat in 2008, it should have been a wake up call for Umno and its associate parties – but no, instead the disastrous loss went on to produce a viciousness within the Barisan Nasional coalition, with the always-power-hungry politicians scheming strategies to get back the power they wrongly believe is theirs.  

Their first was to get back Perak, one of the five states Barisan Nasional lost to Pakatan Rakyat in the general election. The game played was dirty but obviously BN could not care less so long as they got back Perak and by hook or crook they did.

Winning Perak was not a gentleman’s game and while BN gloated over this foul victory, the rakyat became more and more alert of the nasty politics the BN was and is capable of unleashing, all for the sake of power, of wanting to stay in control. The people’s consciousness is what BN has to be scared of as the they will decide who they want as their leader.

BN hasn’t learnt humility

The message of a defeat is to teach humility to the loser. Until and unless the message is understood, the lesson will repeat itself. Likewise, losing the 12th GE was to teach BN humility and improve itself. But what a shame that neither did BN embrace any humility, it also made no effort to better itself, as seen from the money politics it kept playing by buying out defectors from Pakatan Rakyat.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi meets the king to resign as PM Soon after losing the two-thirds majority in the 12th general election, the then Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi ( left ) handed over the country’s leadership to Najib Razak, who upon landing in Putrajaya on April 3, 2009, wasted no time in plotting to snatch back the states BN lost in 2008.

Najib started with Perak, getting rid of the then  Menteri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin and replacing him with Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir. The people watched with disbelief at how Najib succeeded in removing Nizar and replacing him with a fellow Umno man.

The Perak saga, a dirty game indeed, only firmed in the people’s mind that BN was all about money politics and the rakyat’s needs were nowhere its concern.

If Pakatan Rakyat adviser Anwar Ibrahim is accused of harbouring the dream of conquering Putrajaya, then Najib, similarly, is sparing no effort in wanting to conquer all the states BN lost in the 12th general election to Pakatan Rakyat.

With Perak in Najib’s control, his gaze has now shifted to Selangor and Penang. It is no coincidence that tongues are suddenly wagging about the lack in leadership, be it that of Lim Guan Eng in Penang or Khalid Ibrahim in Selangor.

Sacrificial cows

When Khalid, in all his good intentions donated 46 cows to his Bandar Tun Razak constituency to be sacrificed for Hari Raya Qurban last year, the BN i.e.Umno turned this good deed into a despicable political issue. Obviously, BN has learned nothing about humility after its defeat in the 2008 general election.

If Najib is sincerely concerned about peace and harmony in Malaysia, he would keep away from Umno’s biggest weakness, i.e. money politics and just do his job of administering the country as well as he can, letting the public decide his fate in the next general election.

Instead, soon after Najib became Prime Minister, reports were and are still abound of defectors from Pakatan Rakyat leaving the party suddenly to either claim ‘loyalty’ to Umno or become independent candidates. Why all of a sudden so many defectors?

NONE Defecting from a party is a personal matter but what is not personal are the reasons for not relinquishing the position that came with the party. In this case, people like Tan Tee Beng ( left ) (MP Nibong Tebal), Zahrain Hashim (MP Bayan Baru), Ibrahim Ali (MP Pasir Mas) , Mohsin Fadzli Samsuri (MP Bagan Serai)  and Zulkifli Nordin (MP Kulim – Bandar Baharu) wasted no time in jumping ship from Pakatan to Umno or becoming independents, but they refused to vacate their respective parliamentary seats claiming they were selected by the people to serve them.

All the above four MPs conveniently forget that the people did not select them per se but the people chose the party that they represented. So the issue of vacating their seats is valid and should be obliged.        

In the case of Mohsin, he quit Parti Keadilan Rakyat because of the ‘Allah’ row. He contested in the 2008 general election not because he wanted to serve the rakyat but because he wanted PKR and Pakatan to restore the special position of Islam. With such an agenda, Mohsin is definitely not the people’s leader and his leaving the party is no loss to anyone.

Obviously, the names like Mohsin, Tan, Zahrain, Ibrahim and Zulkifli carry little credibility as far as their political commitment to the people goes. Hopefully, with their going away, the political scenario of the Pakatan Rakyat will improve for the better.

Likewise, the the state assemblypersons from Changkat Jering (Osman Jailu), Jelapang (Hee Yit Foong), Behrang (Jamaluddin Mat Radzi), Lunas (Mohammad Radzhi Salleh) and Port  Klang (Badrul  Hisham Abdullah) too should show accountability to the rakyat and give up their seats as it has become clear that they joined politics for  personal reasons, certainly not to help the ordinary man in the street.

There is still time before the 13th general election takes place. But there is no more time to play games and take the rakyat for granted, and this the Barisan Nasional better understand this time.