The Bukit Gantang by-election appeared to have been an eye-opener for Zambry Abd Kadir, who received an instant update on the art of hands-on politics.

Given that he was wearing the mantle of the BN-designated Perak menteri besar as well, it meant a lot more than just a matter of recapturing the parliamentary seat from PAS.

In a recent interview with Malaysiakini , he tackled questions on the rough-and-tumble of grassroots politics and declared himself to be above racism in particular.

“I never play with that kind of sentiment. I (compete against Nizar based) on principles. I do not tell lies to the people, I’m not a liar,” he said.

Edited excerpts of the interview follow.

Malaysiakini: Your position has worsened a little bit because of the result of the Bukit Gantang by-election.

Zambry Abd Kadir: From that experience, the lessons that we can learn are about our future politics. We have been talking about ‘1Malaysia’. We have been talking about the younger generation. We want to integrate (society) because it (appears to have split) to a certain extent.

zambry abdul kadir interview 200409 07 That is my biggest worry. We are the new and young generation, we are very much trying to minimise ethnic- based or race-based politics and parochial thinking. I have been trying to project the image of being more embracing.

You may say that (my position) has worsened, but you can’t deny that we have also gained (more support in terms of the percentage of votes). They said we got more than 55 percent, some said it was 57 percent, some even said we got 63 percent.

My second point is this. (Mohd) Nizar (Jamaluddin) had said this was going to be a referendum and the rakyat in Perak would be the deciders. 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. To me whatever it is, I like to be objective in my analysis ... To me the most important thing is how we want to (frame) our politics for the future. Not only in Perak but in the whole country.

Bukit Ganting used to be an Umno’s stronghold, you fought in your stronghold and you still lost.

gantang by election 030409 bn operation room copy voters nama and ic 03 It is not only Umno’s stronghold. I must say that this was Barisan’s stronghold because if you look at the racial composition, you don’t really have 80 percent or 90 percent Malays - you’re looking at about 19 percent Chinese and about 10 percent Indians, and the rest are Malays.

This is not the first time Umno lost. We lost in 2008 to PAS and you have to look at that, the psychological aspect of it. PAS had to defend (the seat), not us. On our part, of course, we had to recapture it.

Why didn’t the Chinese and Indians support BN?

That is an interesting point. I think we really need to look into it ... There are certain issues that we need to address immediately. You have to go back to problems of poverty or unsettled problems like land issues and many other things.

During my campaign period, I went around and talked to (various communities). Some even asked me ‘Hey, who are you?’ but I went into their houses. I talked to them and they said, ‘You are a MB, you come to my house like this ah ?’ I was just trying to engage the people and understand their problems.

We have to do an objective analysis rather than throw this (idea) that the Chinese did not support us, or the Malays or Indians supported us. You know we cannot play that kind of game any more. We must gather all the races to understand (that we have a) future together.

During the by-election campaign, we saw materials used by BN especially Umno, that played up racial issues about the Malay status being ‘compromised’ during Pakatan’s administration of the state...

No, it was not (our doing). That’s why I was shocked to find even for example, flyers, letters and many other things distributed. But I must stress that this was the point where everybody started a psy-war and this was quite popular during the campaign period.

Everybody tried to impress people. 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.... I don’t know what kind of politics we are in now.

At Umno ceramahs, some leaders said Nizar was selling Malay land especially when it came to giving permanent land titles to Chinese new villages, some said Nizar had sold the rights of bumiputera and had become a puppet of the DAP...

nizar jamaluddin scah forum 230409 05 No we didn’t do that. If you really look at the Umno’s main theme, we were just talking about a 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.

(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)?

I haven’t heard from you but the others...

I don’t, I never play with that kind of sentiment. I (compete against Nizar based) on principles. I do not tell lies to the people, I’m not a liar.

BN used to do pretty well in a mixed-race seats. Normally, but not any more.

zambry abdul kadir interview 200409 05 Well, you have to accept that there are some changes on our political landscape and I don’t want to deny that. We have to accept the fact that there are political changes, especially among the younger generation - (in terms of) the kind of politics and role models that they are looking for, and the type of political idealism they want.

These are the areas we need to look into. We need to look into a new political language and to understand it so that we can get along with the younger generation. Our main problem now probably is that we are lacking in that area, which I have to admit.

It is time for Najib to be fully aware of this situation. Now we have to go back to being people-centric (and build) 1Malaysia, and broaden our political views and perspective.

You were an Umno Youth exco member at one time. Do you think there’s any difference in the younger generation today?

Younger people today are certainly better educated. But the most important thing here is the level of idealism. We talked about ideas in those days, (and now) we need more ideas.

That’s how we should promote our party so that people, the younger generation can come back to us. We need to engage them and I think this is what BN has to do.

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