Semenyih will be the Waterloo of Najib, Umno and PAS
COMMENT | At 68 percent, Malay voters form the bulk of the voters in Semenyih. With sentiments running high that Pakatan Harapan hasn't delivered on many of its election promises after eight months in office, chances are rife that the coalition may yet bite the dust again as it did in the Cameron Highlands by-election.
After all, Harapan lost badly in Sungai Koyan, which has the highest concentration of Felda settlers in Cameron Highlands. Now, this is where an analyst must not confuse the woods for the trees.
Polls after polls suggest that the Malay sentiment is swinging against Harapan. Now, would this be Malay Malays or Felda Malays? The two are not necessarily the same.
Felda settlers are not the wet blankets of the Malays. They have hardly complained about their mistreatment. Thus, Felda settlers should always be admired for their tenacity and determination.
But when the Ministry of Primary Industries is struggling with the low prices of a mono-crop, it goes without saying that Felda settlers are the first to feel hapless.
When frustrated, what do they do? They strike out against those who tried to alleviate their plight but failed either through sins of commission or omission.
Semenyih has Malays but no Felda settlers. All 68 percent of the Malays there are completely aware that the state of the broken economy is due to gross negligence by the previous administration.
Even the Malaysian campus of the University of Nottingham, which sits smack in the middle of Semenyih, has not been able to become a catalyst for the district. Not even after the Selayang-Kepong highway was built...
COMMENT | At 68 percent, Malay voters form the bulk of the voters in Semenyih. With sentiments running high that Pakatan Harapan hasn't delivered on many of its election promises after eight months in office, chances are rife that the coalition may yet bite the dust again as it did in the Cameron Highlands by-election.
After all, Harapan lost badly in Sungai Koyan, which has the highest concentration of Felda settlers in Cameron Highlands. Now, this is where an analyst must not confuse the woods for the trees.
Polls after polls suggest that the Malay sentiment is swinging against Harapan. Now, would this be Malay Malays or Felda Malays? The two are not necessarily the same.
Felda settlers are not the wet blankets of the Malays. They have hardly complained about their mistreatment. Thus, Felda settlers should always be admired for their tenacity and determination.
But when the Ministry of Primary Industries is struggling with the low prices of a mono-crop, it goes without saying that Felda settlers are the first to feel hapless.
When frustrated, what do they do? They strike out against those who tried to alleviate their plight but failed either through sins of commission or omission.
Semenyih has Malays but no Felda settlers. All 68 percent of the Malays there are completely aware that the state of the broken economy is due to gross negligence by the previous administration.
Even the Malaysian campus of the University of Nottingham, which sits smack in the middle of Semenyih, has not been able to become a catalyst for the district. Not even after the Selayang-Kepong highway was built.
The Malay vote, for the lack of a better term, is up for grabs. If Harapan can defeat Umno and PAS in Semenyih, the impact will be no less lethal than the blows against the two delivered on May 9, 2018.
Boiling point
Why? By next week, the criminal trial of Najib Abdul Razak would have begun. The constant smirking and trolls, all of which are attempts to defray any sense of guilt, will be enough to put the Malay voters in Semenyih off. Najib would be a blight and curse in Semenyih as the voters there are more urbane and sophisticated.
Second, why should Umno and PAS believe that Malay voters in Semenyih are vulnerable to their unique brand of Malay-Islam rhetoric? The key issue of the day is deliverables. Jobs and growth.
If Umno and PAS cannot deliver (which was why they were kicked out in the first place), it stretches the mind that they can turn the tables against Harapan in an area just a stone's throw away from Putrajaya.
How exactly are they going to do that? Just merge and squeeze every ounce from the Malay and Islamic votes? An impossible feat as Semenyih voters are far savvier.
Besides, PAS has already indirectly admitted to the RM90 million payout from Umno, as highlighted by the Sarawak Report article. The article remains in good standing. The shenanigans of Abdul Hadi Awang have reached a boiling point. The Malays know that Hadi is severely tainted.
Umno, contrary to many pundits' comments, seems to be seen as clean. Najib Abdul Razak and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi are no longer on the party scene.
Come the Semenyih by-election on March 2, they will again be there doing their speeches and doing their walkabouts. That's when the voters will begin to gossip of their treachery. Najib and Zahid, once again, will be the albatrosses around the necks of Umno and PAS.
Even if they are not there, Harapan will be there to remind the voters of a criminal breach of trust on an astronomical scale.
PHAR KIM BENG is a multiple award-winning head teaching fellow on China and the Cultural Revolution at Harvard University.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
A thief will always be remembered as a thief even though he may try to wash away his sins in the Ganges River known for its holiness. Even a priest cannot wash away the sins of the thief. A sex predator is always remembered as a sex predator. He, too, cannot wash his sins away with holy water. A leopard cannot change its spots even if a tattooist tries to rub off the spots! What is done is done. It is a done deed! Th stain is there. The ordinary people who have suffered because of misdeeds will always remember them. Will they forgive the abusers ? Women in Korea were raped by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War. Can they forgive the predators? The Rohingha refugees are suffering under the military junta in Myanmar . Can they forgive the soldiers? Just imagine if the situation is reversed: the abusers abused; the Japanese soldiers tortuered and raped, the sex predators castrated; the junta tortured and chased out of the nation! If the situation is reversed, then an donly then will they understand the sufferings of the people.
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