THE 16th American President Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865) once famously said: “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

Barisan Nasional’s stunning win in yesterday’s Tanjung Piai by-election has sent that message to the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) regime, which comprises DAP, PKR, PPBM and PAN.

PH’s devastating defeat has sent a clear public signal that the people can no longer be fooled with empty promises and the routine blame game on previous BN federal government to conceal own incompetence and accountability.

Massive Win

In the by-election, BN candidate Wee Jeck Seng from MCA pocketed 25,466 votes against nearest rival, PH’s Karmaine Sardini from Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM or Bersatu), who could only manage 10,380 votes.

Jeck Seng’s thumping majority of 15,086 votes had sent PH crashing down to earth in just nearly 18 months after coming to power in the 14th General Election (GE14).

This is the fourth by-election victory for BN out of the nine held in the country since GE14, and the fourth straight opposition win in Peninsular after victories in Cameron Highlands, Semenyih and Rantau.

Some 74.43% or 38,815 of Tanjung Piai’s registered 53,528 voters turned up to cast their ballot papers on Saturday, November 16.

Wee easily recaptured his seat with 65.60% votes in the six-cornered fight while Karmaine received only 26.74% votes.

All the other four candidates – Gerakan’s Wendy Subramaniam (1,707 votes), Berjasa’s Datuk Dr Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz (850 votes), and Independents, Faridah Aryani Abd Ghani (380 votes) and Dr Ang Chuan Lock (32 votes), lost their election deposits.

Blame Game

Certain so-called political pundits, who are either pro-Pakatan or pro-DAP or pro-PKR, have all claimed that Jeck Seng’ victory was a big tight slap on Mahathir’s face.

They claimed that Mahathir’s racist political bigotry caused PH-PPBM humiliating defeat, pointing their fingers mainly at issues of fugitive Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik, Khat Jawi writing, Malay Dignity Congress the government’s non-recognition of the Chinese schools’ Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) .

They are pinning all blame on Mahathir’s “misrule” since May 2018 over PH’s defeat and BN’s victory.

It’s easy to play the blame game given that the constituency comprises 57% Malays, 42% Chinese and 1% Indians.

The by-election was triggered after the incumbent, Md Farid Md Rafik of PPBM party, died of heart complications.

In GE14, Farid secured 21,255 votes, while Jeck Seng got 20,731 votes to win with a slim 524-vote majority despite widespread public anger and hatred against then-incumbent BN federal government over the 1MDB scandal and unpopular goods and services tax (GST).

In GE14, Farid is said to have secured 74% or 15,728 of his votes from the Chinese voters’ community with remaining 5,527 or 26% votes coming from Malay and Indian voters.

This time Malays and Chinese have overwhelmingly voted for BN.

BN had won in all 27 polling stations and 124 out of 125 polling streams in the by-election.

It was indeed an emphatic BN win.

The huge win for the opposition cannot be pinned down on just one man – Mahathir, as to how certain PH leaders and so-called analysts tried to insinuate.

Utter gibberish is it not.

These unscrupulous leaders and pro-PH analysts are shirking the coalition’s collective responsibilities, something which the current ruling regime failed to display to the people since coming to power.

They are also trying to deny the due credits to BN’s choice of candidate and campaign strategy.

Nothing Right

For near past 18 months, PH regime is yet to do anything right, be it in economic, finances, education, environment, industrial, agricultural, welfare, national unity, education, infrastructure or even foreign policies.

PH ministers, their deputies and other political officials have collective responsibilities to draft and implement the correct policies for the people.

They must take responsibility and be accountable for PH’s failures, rather than pinning all blames on Mahathir.

The people are unhappy with PH on virtually everything, which is amazing considering how the people rejoiced and welcomed the ouster of BN in GE14 just some 18 months ago.

The truth is PH is yet to put its act together as a united and progressive coalition.

They are being besieged by a political power struggle, notably between Mahathir and his arch-rival Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the PKR president.

The prolonged political infighting, although a feast for media, is not good for the country’s economic progress.

Due to the political instability, foreign investors are reportedly not showing any interest to pump their capitals to boost businesses in Malaysia.

Don’t forget about the ringgit free fall and the ever-rising cost of living.

PH leaders and elected representatives have a collective responsibility to correct all these and deliver the goods to people.

They cannot go on blaming one man or the past federal government to conceal their own failures to evade accountability.

Time for all PH leaders and elected representatives to realise that the people demand deliverance for their betterment.

They are fed up with PH’s routine Najib-Rosmah, 1MDB, racial and blame games.

BN-PAS Combo

BN has shown that the coalition, consisting of Umno, MCA and MIC, was always a collective unit swimming and sinking together at all times.

BN’s cooperation with Islamist party, PAS, has also impressed the people that it was potentially a united and progressive political block that can work for the betterment of the nation.

The significant part of BN’s Tanjung Piai victory is that the Chinese voters had voted for MCA.

By no means that Chinese had finally returned to BN’s fold.

But at least it will be a good start for BN to recapture the lost Chinese electoral grounds.

Umno and PAS leaders, and also their supporters and cyber troopers, for instance, should stop their rhetoric speeches and statements, which were perceived as “racist and religious extremism” by non-Muslims.

That would help MCA and MIC to recapture their lost respective community electoral grounds and regain the confidence of non-Muslims.

If BN-PAS combo can work together as a collective, constructive and competent unit, the people from all races and religions will see them as a formidable and viable alternate political block.

Tanjung Piai by-election victory will not be wasted.

It can be the catalyst to launch a united and progressive political block that should also include native parties from Sabah and Sarawak.

Potentially, Tanjung Piai can power BN and its political allies back to Putrajaya in GE15.

The post Is Barisan Nasional ready to retake Putrajaya ? first appeared on NMH.

Tanjung Piai by-election in Johor will see 6 candidates flexing their political muscles for the next two weeks to wrest control of the parliamentary constituency.

Among the candidates, Pakatan Harapan’s Karmaine Sardini from Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s party, PPBM, was first to file his candidacy papers in Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim at Jalan Dewan when nominations opened at 9am today, Saturday, November 2, 2019.

Karmaine nearest rival will be Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng from MCA.

Others are lawyer Wendy Subramaniam, 38, from Gerakan, Berjasa president Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz a 56-year-old corporate man, and independents – private sector executive Faridah Aryani Abdul Ghaffar, 43, and tuition master Ang Chuan Lock, 49.

Litmus Test

PPBM’s Tanjung Piai division chief, Karmaine, 66, should start as the pre-election favourite.

However, he is being expected to face a stiff test from Jeck Seng, 55, who will not be a pushover.

Being the former two-term former Tanjung Piai MP and Pekan Nenas one-term assemblyman, and the constituency’s MCA division chief, Jeck Seng is contesting in familiar ground.

He needs no introduction to the voters.

The by-election was forced by the death of incumbent MP Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, 42, on September 21, 2019.

In the 14th General Election (GE14) Jeck Seng lost to the late Md Farid of PPBM by 524 votes.

The Tanjung Piai constituency has 52,978 voters made of majority Malays 57%, Chinese 41.4% and the rest Indians.

The seat is among the most racially balanced parliamentary constituency in the country, thus a litmus test for both PH and BN to gauge their political popularity.

The by-election’s 280 early voters will cast their ballot papers on November 12 while the main polling day is on November 16.

P.165 Tanjung Piai contest will be the 9th by-election in the country since GE14.

The previous by-elections were Sungai Kandis state seat (August 4, 2018); Balakong and Seri Setia state seats (September 8, 2018); Port Dickson parliamentary seat (October 13, 2018); Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat (January 26, 2019), Semenyih state seat (March 2, 2019, Rantau state seat (March 30, 2019); and Sandakan parliamentary seat (May 11, 2019).

BN Unity

Although certain segments of Umno grassroots seem dead against MCA candidature in Tanjung Piai, the Malay party leadership, demonstrating political maturity and wisdom, had concurred with BN’s consensus to pick Jeck Seng.

BN’s collective decision clearly made a mockery out of DAP-PH’s political propaganda that the newly forged Umno-PAS political cooperation will turn Malaysia into a Taliban state.

Umno of late had been going all out to regain its lost Malay electorate grounds via a strong working tie with Islamist party, PAS.

But the Malay nationalist party again demonstrated to Malaysians that when it comes to the crunch, it will not abandon interests of other races and religions in the country.

BN showed yet again that the coalition was for all Malaysians

Jeck Seng’s candidature underlined that BN spirit and unity.

Saboteurs

However, certain negative elements are currently trying to derail Jeck Seng’s campaign by calling on Umno grassroots in Tanjung Piai to either vote for PH candidate or boycott the by-election altogether.

These unscrupulous characters, perhaps pretending to be Umno members, have been using the social media to condemn the choice of an MCA candidate, claiming that BN’s loss in GE14 was caused mainly by Chinese voters.

They also claim that MCA did not do enough to secure Chinese voters in GE14, hence “no to an MCA candidacy”.

These social media commentators have argued that only a Malay candidate from Umno can win Tanjung Piai.

They are claiming that at least 90% Malays in Tanjung Piai will vote for an Umno candidate!

One can’t rule out the possibility that all these negative comments could be a ploy by PH, particularly PPBM’s machinery, to hoodwink Malay voters through malicious lies and racist propaganda to vote against BN’s Jeck Seng.

Such negative comments have given rise a suspicion that BN’s various social media groups in Facebook and Whatsapp could be infiltrated by disguised PH supporters.

BN leadership and supporters should be leery of these dubious characters in their political circles.

They should be wiped out before they damage the whole machinery.

Ideal

Tanjung Piai by-election will be an ideal field for BN to test its own multi-racial credentials in a balanced mixed constituency since GE14.

All the three parties in BN – Umno, MCA and MIC, together with PAS shall use the by-election to show that their political block presents the best solution for the betterment of Malaysia.

Moreover, it won’t be the end of the world if BN loses in Tanjung Piai.

Ideally, Tanjung Piai can be the best electorate battle for BN campaigners to learn the best political formulas and strategies to win mixed constituencies in GE15.

If BN can free itself from saboteurs and execute an effective campaign strategy, Jeck Seng has a good chance to recapture his lost Tanjung Piai on Nov 16.

The post Tanjung Piai By-Election: A Litmus Test For Both PH, BN first appeared on NMH.

Barisan Nasional (BN) should field an MCA candidate in the forthcoming Tanjung Piai by-election in Johor.

This is not just because MCA has traditionally contested the parliamentary constituency, which was first formed in 2004.

It’s important to portray BN as still the coalition for all Malaysians despite Umno’s strong political ties with Islamist party, PAS.

Fielding an MCA candidate will demonstrate to all Malaysians that the 3-party BN still works on consensus and consultative politics.

The by-election will be an ideal window display to showcase on how much the grand old political coalition has recovered from its embarrassing defeat in the last general election, GE14, held on May 9, 2018.

A major reason for the GE14 defeat was the widespread public perception that BN was merely a subsidiary of Umno.

It’s vital to wipe out such negative public perception, especially among non-Malay/Muslims.

Fielding an MCA candidate could do the trick.

It will also present a great opportunity for Umno to demonstrate that the party’s recently established alliance with PAS is the future new political landscape for all Malaysians, not just Malay-Muslims.

By fielding an MCA candidate for the by-election, BN can also gauge its political strength in a mixed constituency, where the voting power of both Malay-Muslims (57%) and others (43%) are almost equal.

Chinese make up 42% and Indians are at just 1% in Tanjung Piai, which had 44,948 registered voters in GE14.

Narrow Win

Tanjung Piai by-election will the 9th to be held in the country since GE14.

Earlier by-elections were for state seats of Seri Setia, Sg Kandis, Balakong and Semenyih, all in Selangor, and Rantau in Negeri Sembilan; and for parliamentary seats of Port Dickson in Negeri Sembilan, Cameron Highlands in Pahang and Sandakan in Sabah.

Ruling party Pakatan Harapan (PH) has so far won 5 by-elections against BN’s 3.

Tanjung Piai by-election was caused by the death of incumbent MP, Md Farid Md Rafik, last Saturday September 22, 2019.

The 42-year-old died of a heart attack at 6am in the Pontian Hospital, Johor.

Farid from PPBM was a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Unity and Social Harmony.

The Election Commission (EC) will announce the dates for the nomination, early voting and the main balloting day for the poll after holding a special meeting chaired by EC chairman Azhar Azizan Harun on Oct 1.

Under the country’s election laws, the EC will have to hold the by-election within 60 days of the seat having fallen vacant.

Farid won Tanjung Piai seat in GE14 with a narrow majority of 524 votes over the nearest opponent, BN incumbent Wee Jeck Seng of MCA.

Farid polled 21,255 against Jeck Seng’s 20,731.

The third candidate Nordin Othman from PAS got 2,962.

For the record, MCA had won the seat for past three general elections, including twice by Jeck Seng, before GE14.

Based on these records alone, MCA should be given the seat.

But certain Umno stalwarts are learnt to plot to hijack the seat for their party, and perhaps to serve their own selfish interests.

BN leadership should deploy wisdom here.

Winnable

Umno cannot go on using the growing support amongst Malay-Muslims as the yardstick to gauge the winnable party or candidate.

This by-election gives rise an opportunity for BN to test its political strength among non-Malay/Muslims, who had rejected the coalition outright in GE14.

MCA can test its political influence among the very community it claims to represent.

An MCA candidate will also show that BN and PAS can work together for mutual political and public interests regardless of race and religion.

Even if the MCA candidate was defeated in the by-election, it will not be the end of the world for BN.

In fact, it will be a good measurement to overcome weaknesses and beef up the strengths for future success.

This by-election will be the first and important test for the recently formalised Umno-PAS political cooperation.

A defeat for an Umno candidate, for instance, will show that the Umno-PAS combination could not weave its magic in mixed constituencies.

Such defeat will be dealt a major blow to the Malay-Muslim unity theme espoused so strongly by the Umno-PAS pact.

It will belittle and ridicule the ‘Penyatuan Ummah’ battle cry.

By definition, it will be demoralising not just to BN and PAS but millions of Malaysians, who want an end to PH rule.

Fielding an Umno candidate will not guarantee victory anyway as Tanjung Piai has no one-race kingmaker.

PH can win the seat by splitting the Malay-Muslim votes and securing at least 90% of Chinese voters.

But a winnable MCA candidate could garner a big chunk of Chinese votes and secure sizable Malay-Muslim support via Umno-PAS political combo.

Hence, the MCA candidate for BN is ideal.

The post BN Fielding MCA Candidate In Tanjung Piai Has Advantages first appeared on NMH.