BN trumps PKR. Whither Aljubs?

By now everyone will have heard that the BN won in Ijok. The victory is not surprising. If you had gone there in the last two days of campaigning, you will have sensed that the swing for BN was all around. What is surprising is the spike in the majority which rose from 1649 to 1850.

Odly enough, it was YDP who was being interviewed for almost an hour over RTM, although he was in Ijok for all of 1 and a half hours. Hmm. I was under the impression that Najib led the BN team in Ijok....

Anyway... that's not important. BN is after all a united front and the main thing is that the party won.

Back to the numbers. A hike in the majority is surprising in that it destroys the notion that the people are unhappy with the current administration. It seems that the bridge issue, the oil-for-food scandal, the 200million jet plane, the turkish yacht, the ecm-libra scandal... all those things dont matter to the people.

Then again maybe they do matter. Its just that people forgot about them. Why did the people forget? Because the opposition curiously forgot to raise them. In a most fishy manner, the PKR and DAP forgot the very issues that they have been riding on over the past 3 years. Instead they banked on the flimsy rumours of the Altantuya case and the alleged misdeeds in the Scorpene and Sukhoi case. The strategy reeked the stench of Al Jubs. Why? because the attacks were so centrally focused on Najib. Aljubs had the most to gain with Najib out of the picture.

The gnawing question is: what deal was there between Aljubs and certain quarters. We lay off you, you dont defend Najib?? Who knows.

Meanwhile, the real good news out of Ijok today is that PKR is all but dead. This was their last chance at a comeback. They failed disastrously.

For Aljubs, the loss is doubly bitter. Not only has he inadvertently strengthened Najib by forcing PM YDP to re-enforce his ringing endorsement of the deputy premiere, he has also removed all doubt that PKR is fading, by making it clear that even with the great Anwar leading the charge, people still reject PKR -or affectionately known as Keldaian

What he will do next is fairly predictable. He will rant and rave. He will cry foul and allege vote rigging and phantom voters. he will plead a victim of the might of the BN Machinery, he will claim BN's victory as having been bought by $$$

Behind the scenes, he is probably less loud,probably silent and fidgety. Aljubs now knows that outside of UMNO he is on the road to nowhere and fast. Ijok may well be his death knell.His future seems bleak.

What will he do? I would wager that he will intensify secret negotiations with SIL for his re-entry into UMNO, somehow. At the same time he will send yet another emissary to mengadap YABhg Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, something a little bird told me he tried to do at least four times before, each time failing miserably with TDM all but slamming the door on the face of the envoy. (Not literally of course)

Aljubs will want to get into UMNO at all costs. he knows that PKR is toast. He's probably relieved he's not a member. Then again he already calculated that he wanted to be free to consider his options -options that include re-joining UMNO. What he miscalculated on was BN's strength, in particular Najib's strength in countering his personal attacks.

Tonight is a humid night. But Anwar is feeling cold, because he is locked on the outside in this dark and dreary night, looking through UMNO's window and seeing the warmth and comfort inside. He knows he has to get in or he will just fade away into the night. The desperation is increasing for him. As he listens to the joy and laughter inside the UMNO home, he realises on this side of the wall there is no celebration. By this time tomorrow, when the Ijok dust settles, Anwar will see that he is all alone.

Dewa Turun Kayangan

Like the legendary dewa (mystical beings sometimes inaccurately described as demi-gods) of old Malay and Hindu folklore, PM YDP descended from his Kayangan (the heavens) to soil his holy feet amongst the mere mortals of ijok.

This sent the entire political community into a buzz. "Why did the PM have to 'turun'? Is it such a tough fight in Ijok?".

The popular notion here on earth, is that the PM does not come to campaign during by-elections. This has been practiced for many years, even in the era of the great TDM. It is unlikely that PM YDP didnt get the memo on this. He was not too long ago a DPM himself and I remember well him having to campaign in Anak Bukit and Pendang and before that in Bentong and Indera Kayangan. So he knows well that by convention the PM doesnt campaign in by-elections.

So why did he do it anyway? The possible reasons can only be:

1. He got the wrong info: that BN is on the losing side in Ijok and therefore his rescuing presence(insert laughter here) is badly needed

2. He has no confidence in the campaign led by his deputy

3.This is another subtle attempt by SIL to undermine Najib. He deploys the unsuspecting, half asleep FIL as a tool to convey his message. - This is quite brilliant if you think of it: You know Ijok is a winner now, so u better get FIL to come, so that credit can be robbed from Najib who slaved for 10 days there. So now you can start another whispering campaign that says "Nasib baik PM datang, sebab tu menang... kalau tak kalah dah..." As if Najib did nothing for 10 days. Either way, kalau BN kalah, Najib still gets all the blame, kalau menang none of the credit. Oxford trained SIL well.

In my view, Ijok aint as tough a battle as some might have you believe. It's a tougher fight than Machap and Batu Talam of course, but not anywhere near Lunas. BN has definitely gained a stronger foot hold since the campaign started. So to my suspicious mind, and relating to my theories of conspiracy and the hunt for a legacy PM YDP's descent is motivated by something more than the desire to see BN win. Whether it's his own motive or the motive of other sinister plotters, I dare not speculate.

Update 28 April 12:18 a.m :

The Sun had thi story, which I found on Malaysia Today:

Prime Minister Datuk Seri AbdullahAhmad Badawi said today he has confidence in Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's capability as his deputy, especially in carrying out the tasks entrusted to him.

"I've confidence in Najib as the deputy prime minister for I'm satisfied with many of the tasks he has implemented," he told reporters after launching the National Intellectual Property Day 2007 here.

The prime minister was responding to queries surrounding the opposition's personal attacks on Najib in the run-up to the Ijok state by-election in Selangor tomorrow.Voters will cast their ballots to pick either Barisan Nasional (BN)'s K. Parthiban, 38, who is Tanjung Karang MIC secretary, or Parti KeadilanRakyat (Keadilan)'s Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, 61, who is former Guthrie Bhd chief executive officer.

Abdullah said Najib, in his capacity as BN deputy chairman, had on numerous occasions proven his ability to lead the BN by-election machinery."Although I'm the BN chairman (and it's my) responsibility to lead, he has been heading the by-election machinery all this while, proving his capability with successful outcomes," he said.The prime minister said the opposition should not have made personal attacks against his deputy as the accusations had nothing to do with Najib.

My hypothesis above must be entirely unfounded. I'm sorry. All is well then. I stand corrected.

A Question of Legacy

It was a wet day in Ijok. The rain, had returned after a brief hiatus at midday and I found myself huddled in one of the quaint "kedai kopi" in the middle of this tiny town that is now the focus of the entire nation. A number of reporters also take shelter there and one of them, sitting at the next table looks our way, recognizes my friend and moves over to join us. Conversation starts about this and that, then he says... "kesian Najib.. betul-betul kena sekali ni"

Naturally my friend asks why. I listen with marked interest. This guy is a reporter from one of the TV stations. He must know what he's talking about. "Sorang-sorang dia kena balun dengan Pak Sheikh...Takdak sapa mai tolong." he says. Again my friend asks why. I am the uninvolved listener in this scene, but my interest is unmistakable. Happy that he has a keen audience, the reporter continues "Hang tak perasan ka? Sekarang ni, pembangkang pun dah dapat air-time. Dulu mana TV station kita benarkan... sekarang coverage calon pembakang hampir lebih air time dari calon BN."

"Awat lagu tu?" My friend asks, reverting to his native Kedah dialect.The reporter is only too happy to divulge his 'insider' stories. It seems that in actual fact, BN Big guns are down to help campaign in Ijok although looking at the news one would think its only Najib doing the rounds. But apparently there's been some... 'wahyu' if you will... a commandment from on-high that there should be less focus on BN's campaign and more 'flexibility' must be given in airing the opposition's campaign. Not so much that it would get noticed... just more than before.

"Tak kan lah" said my friend incredulously, although of course anyone following the events in Ijok on the news will tell you that for the first time ever, the opposition is being given ample exposure during prime time news. "Betul, Bang." said the reporter. "Kami diberitahu begitu... pasai katanya PM YDP [the term is used by me in this article.. not by the reporter] nak satukan Melayu.. perlahan-lahan."

The conversation went on for a bit longer, then the rain stopped again and we parted ways.

What the reporter said stayed with me long after we left the Kedai Kopi. Penyatuan Melayu by PM YDP? What could this mean? To my suspicious mind, this had a thousand and one implications. Naturally Penyatuan Melayu would mean bringing together the Malays of UMNO, PAS and Keldaian.... which - following through with the train of thought of my previous posting- means that it's another piece in the jigsaw that will form the picture of Al-Jubs' return to UMNO, which adds another token in favour of the conspiracy theory against Najib.

I called up a few of the learned, battle-scarred former generals of Malaysian politics and asked them what they thought was actually afoot. One interesting insight was this: Its about legacies. It seems that PM YDP is very much pre-occupied about his legacy when he high-tails it out of office. This Elder of the Party told me that from day one PM YDP has been obsessed about the mark he'll make. You see, said the Elder, PM YDP has a bit of an insecurity about stepping into the shoes of the great YABhg. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, an icon of Malaysian politics, and a much respected global statesman. He thought, in the begining, that his endless sloganeering was good enough to win support of Malaysians. But after the so-called honeymoon period, he realized that Malaysians demand substance to back up the pretty slogans, something he had very little of.

He often lamented to his fourth floor boys about this and they set about carving a niche for PM YDP. Islam Hadhari, Biotechnology, Human capital, Towering Malays, Red Book, Green Book... all sorts of crap were dished out, in their pitiful attempt to make PM YDP look good. But nothing worked. Psycophants will forever polish your knob and say stuff to make you feel good, but deep down they realize the truth. They knew that even if you polish glass for a thousand years in a thousand different ways, a worthless piece of glass will never become a diamond. PM YDP will never even become even the toenail of TDM, much less a person of equal stature.

Of course they have some of the HP6 Ministers time and again coming out with assinine statements about not comparing leadership styles and that TDM's time is past, or that PM YDP is the dream leader and stuff like that. But nothing erases the fact that PM YDP is mediocre at best, and that should he no longer be leader tomorrow, his legacy would only be the empty slogans, oh and yes , the unabated ascendancy of SIL during his rule.

Even PM YDP realises this sad truth. He must have a more impressive legacy. Something that would cause history to place him in the same league as TDM and TAR, Malaysia's most illustrious Prime Ministers.

In the view of his advisers, the most impactful thing is to bring the warring Malay factions together. "Let's face it", they seemed to have said, "you cant beat Mahathir's industrialisation and modernisation, you cant beat what TAR did with FELDA and stabilising communal relations through economic restructuring". No way in hell, unless there is a nuclear war, everything is destroyed and PM YDP gets to start with a clean slate. Not gonna happen.

So what do you do? you deliver what TDM has himself proclaimed his own failure to accomplish: To unite the Malays. You will then finally get a worthy "Bapa something" to add to your name when you hit the road: Like Bapa Pembangunan or Bapa Pemodenan. You, instead of holding to the ridiculos, pre-mature, insane tag of Bapa K-Ekonomi bestowed on you by one of your Ministers, can rightfully claim to be Bapa Penyatuan Melayu. (Salivate salivate. clap clap)

Now to do this, what must you do first? Bring the most difficult protagonist into the fold, then others will soon follow. This prize catch is none other than Al Jubs, the actor of actors, the fake of fakes. He may be fake, but damn, he still has his followers. Hell he can talk the pants off of anyone! ( No pun intended.)

And so the game plan is set in motion. Start the mental conditioning of the malay public, especially the UMNO stalwarts. Give the opposition airtime. Allow Al Jubs to have a field day with the press... and... make no effort to save Al-Jubs favourite target: Najib. For indeed, how on earth will you bring back Al Jubs if his perceived primary stumbling block is in the way?

Perlahan-lahan, the reporter said.

It's still a blurry picture but its starting to make sense to me. Re-introduce the idea, condition the mind, kill the main obstacle, then roll out the red carpet.

My friend, the learned party Elder sums up: It's all about an unfound legacy. An all important legacy, a coveted immortality. Some men would pay a hefty price for it. One man and his SIL may consider offering a bigger sacrificial lamb: The illustrious son of a legendary Malay leader.