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On May 9, Najib also wants heavy rain, traffic jams

LETTER | The coming GE14 is very crucial for Najib Abdul Razak who announced the dissolution of the Malaysian Parliament on April 7 and May 9, a Wednesday as polling day being the most appropriate choice for him.

The GE14 is most crucial because he is going against the tide to stay in power not so much for the survival of Umno /BN but to save his own skin.

He has done all things necessary not to revamp Umno/BN but to build a personal fortress by having chosen appointees in key positions like the head of MACC, PDRM, EC, PSD and the AG and weakening the opposition in all conceivable ways but not totally defeating them.

Najib has also completed the redelineation exercise or gerrymandering, the ongoing vote-buying, threatening, especially the civil servants, and gathering of the phantom voters, on standby with stacks of armed forces votes and postal voters, you name it; Najib has done it all.

Of course, he has been able to use PAS to divide the Malay votes in three-cornered fights but only the hardcore PAS supporters will vote for PAS and the rest will swing to Pakatan Harapan; they simply hate Najib so much.

However, despite what Najib has done and is still doing, the opposition, and in this case Harapan, has been able to make inroads into the rural areas including the Felda settlements and the support for Harapan has gained increasing momentum such that Najib has indeed become panicked. The support for Umno/BN has been stagnant if not dwindling.

The war in cyberspace is also not on Najib’s side with his foolish and ridiculous cyber-troopers having lost the plots and posting mostly ‘fake news’ with supporters using ‘fake accounts’ only making Najib look more ridiculous.

The mainstream media and the television channels only cater for the hardcore Umno/BN supporters but have no impact on the rest of the population.

Najib in his haste has decided to have early elections hoping that Harapan is not fully prepared because they are facing several problems, seemingly yet to be fully resolved.

However, presently, with the only window of opportunity to defeat BN, Harapan has no choice but to make calculated sacrifices and has been quick to solve their problems in the nick of time.

Knowing the voting tide is against him, the next step taken by Najib is to make it difficult for voters to go out and vote. But this time, the majority of those going out to vote will vote for Harapan. The opposition has won the popular vote in the previous elections anyway.

So Najib has to discourage the people from going out to vote. He may also be praying for heavy rain on the polling day itself and with traffic jams everywhere. The ‘bomohs’ could be engaged to do their weather tricks.

But one thing Najib has overlooked is that this will also make it difficult for the civil servants to go out and vote mid-week on a working day. Najib is banking on (or rather threatening them) for full support.

Comparing the eagerness and the sense of responsibility, the general public will be keener to go out and vote. Their lives are very much affected by what Najib has done. They will find ways to vote. Already they are making arrangements like car-pooling to go to the polling stations. They are willing to make sacrifices.

The civil servants, on the other hand, are less enthusiastic because being government servants their well-being is secure no matter what the outcome of the elections. They may not even go out to vote.

Najib in his desperation and panic may end up making the biggest blunder which is of his own making.


The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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