Is Umno eyeing the Hulu S'gor seat for itself?

comment The clash between Umno and MIC in the forthcoming Hulu Selangor parlimentary constituency by-election has been made to appear as an issue over who should be the MIC candidate - G Palanivel or V Mugilan.

 It is not. It is about Umno wanting to have the seat for itself.

The clash between the two partners of the Barisan Nasional started even before the death of the incumbent Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad.

While Zainal was in his death-bed, Palanivel ( left ), assuming that he would be the candidate, was already moving to assemble his team.

For its part, Umno, through its local leaders was beginning to stake its claim for the seat.

Upon the death of Zainal, Mohd Khir Toyo, the former Selangor Umno liaison chief, immediately staked the claim for Umno.

Later, upon realising that grabbing the seat right away now would pave the way for the return of Mohd Taib - another former menteri besar of Selangor - and possibly ruining his own future, Khir softened his stand and turned his attention instead to the prospective candidate from MIC.

As Umno's call for grabbing the seat gained momentum,MIC's resistance became more vociferous.

BN chief Najib Abdul Razak put an end to Umno's demand for the time being when he announced that MIC would contest the seat.

But he did not say anything about the candidate, thus leaving it open for further maneuvering towards the ultimate objective of seizing the seat at a later date.

This provided the license for the Umno leadership at various levels to taunt Palanivel, the candidate chosen by MIC, by suggesting their own choices such as V Mugilan, S Parthiban the former Ijok state assembly representative, and P Kamalanathan.

Creating discord

It knew this would sow discord among MIC supporters of these individuals and dissipate the strength of MIC as a whole.

Did Umno also move to create tension in the minds of the Chinese and the Indian communities by disparaging them, demanding that they should remain grateful to Umno for what they enjoy today?

Would anyone who needed the support of everyone to win the by-election do such things - questioning the loyalty of the non-Malays, as Umno did at the BN convention at Shah Alam earlier this month?

The conduct of the Umno organised BN convention forced the MCA representatives from Kapar to stage a walkout .

The MIC representatives were not happy either and they did murmur.

When pressed, the man in the centre of the controversy, Selangor Umno deputy chief Noh Omar ( above ), merely said "sorry". But, Najib who later addressed the gathering made no reference to it at all.

Further, the ministers and other Umno leaders who make their rounds in the Hulu Selangor constituency, without fail, accuse Lim Kit Siang, the senior DAP leader, of insulting the king when he raised questions in respect of matters stated in the royal address at the current sitting of Parliament.

People, in particular the non-Malays, are already unhappy about the Umno's racist approach.

Why should Umno seek deliberately to antagonise the Chinese and the Indian voters in the Hulu Selangor constituency, when it needs them most?

The undeclared scheme of Umno is that it wants the BN candidate to be defeated in the forthcoming Hlu Selangor by-election so that it can 'steal the seat from MIC'.

MIC president S Samy Vellu ( left ) said so indirectly on April 14 after the MIC central committee meeting.

He said "we would find out what he (Mugilan) had been doing to steal the seat from MIC."

One interpretation is that Mugilan has been used to steal the seat for Umno.

Umno had asked for the seat in the last general election also.

But, it had never had been Umno's  at all.

From the first general election to the one held in 2004 it had been held by MCA and MIC. In 2008, PKR's Zainal Abidin captured it from Palanivel.

The first four representatives were from MCA- Ong Yoke Lin, Khaw Kai Boh, Michael Chen and Lee Kim Sai.

Then, it was SS Subramaniam (now with PKR) and finally, Palanivel.

Nonetheless, Umno wants it and it is serious about it. By engineering the defeat of the BN candidate in this by-election, it has nothing to lose. Nor will it affect the BN's position in Parliament.

But a defeat now will certainly affect the standing of MIC leader Samy Vellu, virtually ruling out any possibility of the party making the claim for the seat again in the next polls.

That's the game Umno is up to now.

Constituents understand

A 79-year-old  government retiree said he knew all about it. He introduced himself saying, "Call me Kim Wah. I first voted for Khaw Kai Boh. My father voted for Ong Yoke Lin.

"I have a lot of Malay friends. We old fellows talk freely and we, including my Malay friends, know Umno is mad about wanting it."

He said he had all these years been voting for BN, but not this time. Why? "Don't insult us like this. I am too old to stomach it," Kim Wah snapped.

In Batang Kali Bandar Bahru, Moke Sang, 35, asked, "Brother, tell me, why is this Noh Omar talking about Kit Siang ( left ), saying he insulted the king.

"These are the people who also insulted our women as prostitutes."

He added he would not vote for them. "I know Indians are also insulted. I am sorry, I cannot vote for MIC."

Chin Fook (not his real name) said he is a member of MCA.

"But my vote is for Pakatan's Zaid Ibrahim. He threw away his minister's post for the sake of justice to Teresa (Kok) . I will never forget it. We are still talking about it," he said.

Murugammal was a factory worker and is unemployed at the moment.

She said she was asked by an Umno wanita member to talk to women voters to vote for BN.

She said she declined the request and said, "I am going to speak to people to vote for Zaid. I hear he is a good man. I am fed up with the MIC."

As for Veerappan, an insurance agent, BN should go. He is from Tanjong Malim, but moves around KKB regularly.

He said: "I know a lot of people in this and the neighbouring areas. We are already working for PKR."

Veerappan's friend Amin, 28, said he has a lot of Chinese and Indian friends but "they are in all the parties. I am for Pakatan.

"I see the Umno, MCA and MIC leaders, even the local ones, are well off. The ordinary people see no change.

"They talk about so many things, but they don't talk about workers and their pay. It remains the same."

For Eddy Chin, 41, if the voters were honest with themselves, they would never vote for BN. "Candidate never mind, BN, no," he said firmly.

"You know, the promises they made, they never kept. And now they pour promises like rain. Don't think we are ulu forever."