Bagan Pinang by election – umno in lose-lose situation: Uncertainty over candidate spells trouble for umno
Umno seems to be in a dilemma in selecting an appropriate candidate for the Bagan Pinang by-election, due to be held on Oct 11.
While the Teluk Kemang Umno division is insisting in naming only its chief and disgraced ex-Umno vice-president Isa Samad for the state seat, the party’s deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin clearly expressed his stand on the matter by urging the division to come out with more choices.
Umno will have to sort out this mess over naming their candidate before nomination on Oct 4, just a week from today.
The party, which for long held the hegemony over all others, certainly needs to perform well in this by-election, the ninth in the series after the March 2008 general election, and ironically held in a state called Negeri Sembilan. In the previous eight by-elections, Umno and the Barisan Nasional by extension had only won one.
A victory in its home turf is a must for Umno, BN and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak but at the moment the indecisiveness of the party in picking a candidate may just put an end to its hopes of retaining the seat.
This is also a situation which the opposition is watching with much interest.
Umno in lose-lose situation
PKR’s election machinery chief Saifuddin Nasution, at a ceramah held at Kampung Pokok Buluh in Pasir Mas, Kelantan on Friday night, was quick in noting Umno’s dilemma in choosing the right candidate.
“If they (Umno) do not choose Isa, the party machinery may face a boycott in the Teluk Kemang Umno machinery. This will result in a possible loss.
“If they choose Isa, then it would show that Umno does not have any credible candidates to lead the challenge, not a single credible person from the ranks of the present leadership in Teluk Kemang Umno, even in its Puteri, Umno Youth or putera divisions,” he told the crowd.
The PKR election director, who is also Machang MP, said even former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad had given the thumbs down to his former “blue-eyed boy” Isa as a candidate.
Mahathir had repeatedly expressed his views that Isa is not a suitable candidate as he had been found guilty of money politics in winning his vice-president’s post in the 2003 party polls and suspended from the party for three years.
PAS not spoilt for choice
Saifuddin was also quick to point out that BN’s problem ran deeper as other major component parties too faced leadership crisis, especially in both MCA and MIC which can result on the shift of the Chinese and Indian votes away from the BN to the Pakatan Rakyat.
On the other hand, Saifuddin said PAS’ choice of candidates for the by-election showed a list of capable candidates at its stable.
“One is an engineer, another one an economist and the third is a former candidate.”Certainly PAS does not have any problems of selecting the right candidate to represent the party and Pakatan,” he said without disclosing the identity of the potential candidate.
“The Chinese and Indians have also been receptive of PAS and credit should go to Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat in leading the state for 19 years. Under his stewardship the people’s acceptance of PAS has increased and this had broken down the racial barrier,” added the PKR strongman.
He also emphasised on the co-operation between PKR, PAS and DAP which had improved tremendously despite claims to the contrary by the Umn-linked mainstream media.
“We have managed to work together in strategising our move. In fact, in December each party will send 500 leaders to the Pakatan Rakyat’s national convention in Selangor to further strengthen the coalition and improve co-ordination.
Hard to get the postal voters
He also said that the election directors of PAS, PKR and DAP will be meeting on Tuesday to strategise a Pakatan victory on Oct 11.
While he said that it would be difficult in taking away the 4,000 over postal votes from the army camps located in the constituency, the strategy would be to tackle the normal voters.
“Our strategy is to try and overturn the 2,000 plus majority during the 2008 general election, by attracting more than 1,000 votes to Pakatan. We will be concentrating our efforts outside the army camps while you can be rest assured that BN will concentrate on the army camp,” he said.
Both PAS and Umno are expected to announce their candidates on Tuesday.
Hafiz Yatim/Mkini
