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Malaysia: Veteran Blames Mahathir In Defeat
by Kazi Mahmood for IslamOnline
JAKARTA (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Malaysia is finding it difficult to wake up with hiccups on the political scene with Wednesday’s defeat of the ruling coalition in a local by-election. A single defeat has become the potent for a scathing attack against Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad by a veteran of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
A UMNO Supreme Council member on Thursday said Mahathir Mohamad was the main cause of National Front’s defeat in the Lunas state by-election.
Shahrir Samad, of Johor UMNO, said the main reason the NF lost the seat was because of "the character of our leader, Dr Mahathir".
In the by-election, NF's S. Anthonysamy lost to Saifuddin Nasution Ismail of Barisan Alternatif (BA) by a margin of 530 votes. The defeat also resulted in NF losing its two-thirds majority in the Kedah state assembly.
Not mincing his words, Shahrir said, "Dr. Mahathir's personal flaws as shown in his ‘advice speech' in which he was critical of the Chinese, sounding as if he was angry with and hurt by the Chinese. This is the ‘old man syndrome' of old man sulking."
He said the vote for the Alternative Front (AF) was a vote against the UMNO, which is seen in Malaysia as the government.
"The voters did not see any changes in the government which is perceived as full of corruption, self-serving and out of touch with the people," Shahrir elaborated in a sudden attack against Mahathir which may earn him the wrath of his party end of the day, observers noted.
"Despite the fact that they are from Kedah and hold the top two posts in the government, Mahathir and Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin could not be bothered with the by-election.
"The people voted against a situation that has not changed - it is not the Anwar issue.
"UMNO and BN have not responded to the wake-up call after the general elections. Maybe it only affected certain levels, or maybe UMNO woke up for only two months and then went back to their slumber. In fact, certain UMNO factions in Kedah are quite happy with this loss."
Shahrir said that the use of Mahathir's posters instead of the NF candidate's might also have caused the backlash against NF.
"By putting up the PM's posters, the Kedah chief minister obviously wanted to show that it is not important whether UMNO or NF wins, but it is important that the PM wins. It is obvious that the internal dynamics of ‘boss sycophants’ are still very much alive," said Shahrir.
According to Shahrir, the practice of using the prime minister's posters instead of those of the standing candidates was not new. "I had the same experience in 1988 during the Tanjung Puteri by-election when the UMNO Baru candidate stood for the first time.
"I was the campaign manager and my directive was ‘do not use PM's posters" as the Johor Malays were very unhappy with the PM over former Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam and the UMNO then.
"I was criticized by the PM's hardcore followers such as Mohammad Rahmat [the former Information Minister], giving me the message that it was important for the PM to win more than anything else," said Shahrir.
"There is full disregard for what is happening on the ground to the people. With such a character, when the Opposition requests for votes, the people oblige."
Despite Shahrir’s criticism of Mahathir and insistence that Anwar Ibrahim did not weigh in the balance of the opposition win in the elections, observers believe that the UMNO party is bound to face serious crises in the near future.
Party stalwarts now fear that the state of Kedah might be the next state to be grabbed by the Party Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) Islamic opposition in the next four years. There also might be tough challenges made against Mahathir in coming future party elections.
Anwar's sacking, assault in custody, criminal trials and long jail sentences has eroded Mahathir support from the Malay community, which the two men represent. Veteran political watchers bet Kedah will be the third state to fall to the opposition if Mahathir fails to check Anwar's growing threat.
Mahathir, and the UMNO, said the defeat in the by-election was due to the opposition's use of racial and religious issues in a country that was highly sensitive to such themes.
Chinese voters were largely responsible for returning Mahathir's government to power in last November's general elections. But in Lunas, they turned the sleeves and supported the opposition. Issues like the new education policy did the rest.
Mahathir's allies in government said the defeat should act as a "wake-up call" for the government. To other observers well versed in Malaysian politics, it might well be the swan song for a regime, which has stood in power far too long.
In the meantime, ethnic Indians are questioning the validity of their political weight in a country largely dominated by Malays (56%) and Chinese (30%).
There is no constituency in the country where the Indians form a majority, and it is quite possible, with the new trend in Malaysian politics, that they might lose all their representatives in the future.
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