opinion

The MCA-Barisan Nasional candidate defeated her Keadilan-Barisan Alternatif counterpart convincingly in the Indera Kayangan by-election. Compared with the results in the 1999 general elections, the BN increased its majority by about 700 votes to nearly 2,600. The indication was ominous when the postal votes, made up mainly of well-controlled police votes, gave BN 700 votes against 22 for BA. Right from the start, the BA knew that it was very difficult to win, but they were hoping at least to reduce the majority.

All the way, even before nomination day, it was clear that the BA was no match to the BN in terms of propaganda, finance and organisation.

The BN had a field day, with ministers and party leaders, the BN candidate and so-called independent political analysts appearing on television every day. On the other hand, the Keadilan-BA was not given even a second to explain their policies and positions through that medium.

The mainstream press, controlled or owned by the government parties, continuously carried out campaigns of disinformation and distortion on whatever the BA did or said. Unlike during the Lunas election, when the Chinese media were more neutral, this time they are well under MCA-BN control to support their candidate.

Gangster elements

The propaganda blitz through the electronic and print media on Afghanistan, Taliban, terrorism and Islamic state issue was stepped up during the by-election campaign period. Although many voters feel that Afghanistan and Taliban are quite far away, yet many Chinese Malaysian businessmen and some middle class elements in Indera Kayangan were especially scared of the black propaganda repeatedly churned out by the BN. They feared that conflicts and instability would follow, while contracts and licences would be cancelled, if the BA won.

Of course there are also prevalent suspicion and fear of PAS and Islam, especially among the non-Muslims, who have been constantly fed only with government propaganda of lies. Periodic sniping by certain elements outside the government, too, did not help BA. The wide publicity given to the somewhat timely Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia arrests also helped to exacerbate the general psychology of fear. Keadilan was painted by MCA especially as being controlled by PAS.

The BN had emphasised these scare tactics with some acts of violence by gangster elements, which smashed windscreens of cars belonging to BA campaigners, and beat up and injured a number of BA supporters.

They did not even spare a police officer, who lost some of his front teeth as a result of being attacked by a BN group for trying to stop three buses from Taman Medan, led by a Selangor state exco Norkhaila Jamaluddin, which were believed to be bringing in phantom voters. The buses and their passengers were released at about 4.30pm, after DPM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi visited the police station where they were being held.

Significantly, despite these propaganda and scare tactics against the BA, the Chinese Malaysian vote for BA increased from over 10 percent in the 1999 general elections to over 30 percent in this by-election. More young Chinese Malaysians voted for BA. They were not scared away by events following the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Nightly kenduri

It is the Malay vote that has decreased, from 65 to about 40 percent. This has been largely due to BN's unlimited financial resources and well-oiled machinery.

Even before nomination day, Perlis Menteri Besar Shahidan Kassim was throwing nightly kenduri (feasts) and more were held during the campaign period. It is reliably reported that he also distributed RM100 to each of those going to perform the Haj , totalling RM83,000. It got to the point that even some PAS leaders were worried that some of their important workers, who had been given from RM500 to RM1,000 each, were avoiding the party.

Of course, people in Kangar know that the local Keadilan leaders and members who deserted the party for Umno had their own price. Under the anak angkat (adopted children) system, many families were supplied daily with food and money. Bribery was rampant. BN had the means to indulge in it.

The election machinery of Umno in Indera Kayangan was very strong, thanks to the unlimited BN financial resources. Before the previous assembly representative passed away, Umno-BN had already established posts and 'employed' local members and supporters to be anak angkat (adopted children) of families, especially in the Malay kampung and urban residential areas where Keadilan won or performed well during the last general elections.

'Adopted children'

After nomination day more 'adopted children" came from outside, some of them Puteri Umno, a number of whom were recognised as students, a group supposedly banned by government from campaigning.

These 'adopted children' not only became conduits for BN's daily supplies to their adopted families, but also 'guarded' well the latter from being reached by BA campaigners. A number of the Keadilan-BA groups that tried to go into these residential areas were chased out or even beaten up by gangsters that appeared to be with the BN.

Only during the last two days were the BA leaders able to make a breakthrough, but to limited effect. In almost all cases, the adopted families had already been persuaded or even deceived into taking Quranic oath to vote for the MCA-BN candidate. On election day these voters were closely accompanied to the voting centres by BN operatives.

The Umno-BN also made use of government institutions and officers to help in their campaign. For a few days a number of vehicles from the Information Department were stationed outside Taman Kemajuan, a majority Malay area; they brought officers from the department to campaign for BN.

Some senior officials of the Kangar Town Council did not even hide where their sympathies lay. They ordered council workers to pull down BA flags, posters and banners from certain areas, purportedly because they broke the law. But no such action was taken against the BN. It was only after complaints were made that the town council returned all that they had confiscated from BA.

Alternatives to ceramah

There is no doubt that BN bribery, threats and tight control helped them to win more Malay votes this time round. In view of this, the BN leaders should have nothing much to crow about their victory. But admittedly, Keadilan-BA has its own internal weaknesses too, which need to be addressed as soon as possible. It can and should work hard to improve the party machinery, especially at the grassroots.

Organisationally, Keadilan is weak in Perlis and its capital Kangar. It had been further weakened by the desertion of some of its members and leaders, although there were only about a dozen who left, and not in the hundreds as made out by the orchestrated BN media propaganda. Anuar Tahir, former secretary-general of Keadilan, joined the campaigns to refute claims that he was joining Umno. Ruslan Kassim had already returned to his old post as publicity head. They proved that Keadilan was still essentially intact.

Outsiders manned most of the Keadilan-BA operation rooms, and there was an evident lack of local campaigners. House-to-house campaign work could not be done effectively, what with the tight control by Umno-BN of many of the Malay kampung . The Keadilan-BA had to depend largely on ceramah (public rallies). As usual, they were very well attended and had good publicity or information value, but most of those who attended were non-voters. Many voters were effectively prevented by their anak angkat from attending them.

Now the BN is more in control of the media than ever. On the other hand, BA ceramah are getting much less attention due to denial of permits by the police. Even during the Indera Kayangan election, police denied permits for two BA ceramah a couple of days before voting day, and sent police riot squads to cordon off the areas where they were scheduled to be held. The BA had not been sufficiently strong in using alternative ways of publicising its positions and policies as well as to counter BA propaganda.

Given the BN media monopoly and the police ceramah restrictions, BA must discuss and implement more effective alternative methods of disseminating information to win over the hearts and minds of the voters. But together with this, and perhaps more important still, strong and effective organisational machinery has to be built and improved at all levels right from now.

DR SYED HUSIN ALI is president of the Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM). This article originally appeared on the party's e-forum on Jan 20.