exclusive Defeats of the past will shape the politics of the future for Barisan Nasional (BN) - and its failure to win the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat on April 7 has only reinforced the lessons it must learn.

zambry abdul kadir interview 200409 02 In a recent interview with Malaysiakini , BN-designated Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir mused over the recent by-election campaign and sentiments in a state which has seen political turmoil since the Pakatan Rakyat lost its tenuous grip on the state legislature in February.

That the seat was returned to PAS must have been hard enough to take. That the winner was Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin - the ousted Pakatan-appointed Perak menteri besar himself - must have been galling.

Zambry said BN must now take stock of its support, especially among young Malaysians.

“We have been talking about ‘1Malaysia’ (the slogan for premier Najib Abdul Razak’s vision). We have been talking about the younger generation. We want to integrate (society) because it (appears to have split) to a certain extent,” he said.

By the same token, BN will be “trying to minimise ethnic-based or race-based politics and parochial thinking”.

The Bukit Gantang by-election, called due to the death of its PAS representative, had been dubbed a ‘referendum’ on the legitimacy of the BN in having taken over the state government under controversial circumstances.

gantang by election 070409 pas nizar win result announce Responding to questions, Zambry lashed out at Pakatan for having turned the contest into a referendum and for its “inconsistency”over this.

“During the campaign period, PAS election director Asmuni Awi said that it was not a referendum but after they got the results, he said that it was the referendum. I think you can see the inconsistency. I like to be objective in my analysis.”

‘BN wouldn’t risk it’

As the big guns toured the constituency in full force, the campaign quickly become mired in accusations of dirty politics, including playing of the racial card and petty name-calling.

However, Zambry strenuously denied that BN had resorted to dirty politics or racism to fish for votes, saying that the ruling coalition would never take such risks even when so much was at stake.

“They distributed certain things that (they claimed) came from Umno. I was shocked when I went to Kuala Sepetang. They put all kinds of words (on campaign materials) that might (have frightened) the Chinese community.

“...I can’t stand these kind of tactics (which went) even to the extent of exposing photos of people. It was unprecedented.”

Zambry also claimed Umno leaders had not dubbed Nizar as DAP’s puppet during the by-election's campaigning.

zambry abdul kadir interview 200409 11 “No we didn’t do that. If you really look at the Umno main theme, we were just talking about certain issue of Nizar’s penderkahaan … we did not even touch Nizar (as a person), we didn’t even touch PAS as a party, we didn’t even touch on other issues like selling (land) to the Chinese.”

Instead, he said it was DAP and PAS who had harped on racial sentiments.

“(In) DAP’s speeches, you (can’t) deny the fact that they played on Chinese sentiments and (that) the PAS members also (did this) ... But if you look at Umno’s official line, we didn’t play that kind of theme. I myself (did not) - did you ever hear me (do so)?

Q&A: I’m not a liar

THE ZAMBRY INTERVIEW

Part 1

No clowning about: 'Pangkor Pele'

Q&A: It's like a children's story

Part 2

Zambry: Lessons from Bukit Gantang

Q&A: I’m not a liar

Part 3

'We need to go back to the people'

Q&A: Give me a chance to prove myself

[VIDEO:16998]