Walk-abouts and Meeting the Voters

Except for the big events that involves the Prime Minister, most meet the people sessions are segmented in nature.Even those mega meet the people sessions are organised and contrived, at best. The preponderance of one race over another is too obvious to hide.

For huge gatherings featuring mammoth turn-outs, they have oftentimes marshaled the crowd be they, civil servants or students. What you see is not what you get.

So, do not be deceived by this kind of organised gathering.

The best indicative crowd is still the impromptu walk-abouts such as the ones Najib took in Petaling Street and Little India in Brickfields. Those are more authentic.

However, if you look at those by the PR, oftentimes, they are multi-racial and they are not organised. The people that go there are either staunch supporters, do so because of curiosity or are present just to listen and be amused by political theatricals.

So, when can we expect leaders in MCA and MIC or even UMNO to turun padang genuinely and really meet a multi-racial crowd instead of just meeting 'the converted' on racial lines?

Also this crowd must not be mass organised, paid in cash or kind and bused in.

A Career Choice

This is one fun cartoon.

Yet, it reflects the truth in many countries.

Butch or Bitch?

I am sure you have noticed this phenomenon when travelling on Malaysian highways during festive seasons.

At the male public conveniences or toilets, turnover is very rapid as they used the urinals.

Compare this to the females who have to use the stalls. They waited patiently and more often than not, impatiently too to use the stalls as there are only so few in their facility.

So, looking at this picture, those in line ought more to be bitches, don't you agree?

Forget about that dog doing his business. He is a queer or he is in the wrong toilet!

The Smart Tunnel and Traffic Management

Malaysia is a country that experiences flood perennially.

With the constant increase of traffic in KL and the flood problem, by now the authorities from the police, City Hall and all allied services that is responsible foe traffic control should already have action master plans and world-class expertise to ensure traffic is well-managed when floods occur in KL. Pre-emptive moves must be initiated after the weather report; just like what they do before the advent of typhoons and hurricanes.

But, what do you know?

The answer as usual is they never learn. It's usual-lah.

So, when the heavy downpour floods KL recently, they closed the Smart Tunnel to divert the overflow, causing massive jams all about the city and in the surrounding suburbs.

As the jams piled up, traffic policemen remained scarce. No additional staff was being mobilized to direct traffic or to disperse it efficiently. No helicopter has been harnessed to help those on the ground.

RELA forces were totally absent. So were Bandaraya traffic staff as well as those toll operators. Teh-tarikking, somewhere?

One word for this: MALAYSIA BOLEH!

God Bless Malaysia-tanah tumpah darah ku

Has Najib Cast The Net Wide Enough?

If it is to be held in the merry month of May,the question to be asked is: Has Najib cast the net wide enough?

Let us look at some of the goodies he doled out and did it fell rightly in the proper place? Or did he gave it to the converted? Or did he gave them to those who will not ever be converted?

Under these circumstances, the best he could do is not to alienate any voter particularly those who are fence sitters.

The first one to look at is the doling out of RM100 to every school going student. To me, this is a much wider net as many would have school going children.

The next would be the book vouchers to students in Form 6 and in college and universities. Along with the first dole-out to school-going students, this will about cover all those who have children in schools, colleges and universities. A very wide yet, in fact.

Then we have the cash hand-out to the public. This is one which can bring Najib up and also bring him down. Execution is very important here. The sad thing about this scheme is for every one that may get in a deserving family, many will be alienated and they may not like it. Also there has been known cases of non-deserving people who received it. My take is that this is a two-sided sword.

It's well and good that the Merdeka Centre survey has attributed Najib's rising popularity to this particular hand-out but I think this is really on huge red herring because such a survey outcome is loaded and cannot be used as a barometer that is neutral. Merdeka Centre should be more professional!

The removal of half the toll payment in the Cheras-Kajang connurbation seems like one good strategy on the surface, if it is to win over the hard-core DAP voters in that area. However, sadly, these hard-core DAP supporters will never change the spots on their bodies. At best, it may win over some of those drive through drivers, if at all.

The KR1M shops may be successful to an extent for the lower class though I believe the price of most staple items are just too minimal to shout about.

As for 1Menu Malaysia, not many shops operate this programme and it is time-specified. They do not serve such menu all day long and there is a mad rush during such time. Food quality is another thing.

The 1Malaysia Home is still-born and no one is benefiting from this. Until the banks can get an assurance, this scheme will be kept frozen in permafrost. So graduate employees,best to forget it for the time being.

The RM300 million EPF loan for the purchase of City hall Kuala Lumpur flats is another negative for Najib as it is now almost a no-go because of its sub-prime nature.

The U-turn on the civil service salary may have some positive effects. Some of those in the lower salary rungs may be persuaded to support BN again because of the 13% pay-rise and the additional RM50 COLA. Good move,Najib.

As for the other things doled out from ETP and EPP projects, these continue to be nebulous numbers which the man in the street cannot relate to.

In conclusion, the net seems to be cast quite widely but its impact may not be there politically.

There is just too many dissatisfied voters out there primarily because runaway inflation is eating into their hard earned ringgits too quickly.

Get inflation down and BN can get more fence-sitters to its side.

Otherwise, expect hostile voters as well as low voter turn out on Election Day.

A Red Herring for Najib

The Editor of Malaysian Insider has today thrown in the remotest possibility of BN abandoning its time honoured formula of seat sharing for the coming GE with its component parties.

He may have got his sources right,though.

As much as I want to believe him, I think if Najib takes on this 360 degree turn, he might as well step down and let someone else lead the BN campaign.

If pure strategy dictates where only the best candidate stands, irrespective of whichever party they hail from, the likelihood of winning additional seats is still unlikely for mixed seats.

Even though, UMNO warlords would like UMNO to take over seats where 55 or 60% Malays form the electrorate, there is just no definite certainty that they will win given the current political mood when PR continue to nip at the heels of UMNO.

Where non-Malays form the majority of voters and in mixed seats, putting in MCA candidates is already dicey. That the incumbent MCA or Gerakan will actually win confidently this time around with the swirling tsunami still in strength is far-fetched.

You cannot deny MIC any seat just because they do not have a majority in many areas. That would have killed all of Najib's initiatives to win back the Indian voter who has voted against the government since HINDRAF created havoc in the 2008 General elections.

Najib must hold on to this golden goose that he has just reclaimed!

My take:

There could be a possibility that some seats could be swapped between component parties if there is agreement without any arm twisting. I do not believe MCA or Gerakan will ever give their seats to UMNO. Period.

The likelihood of MCA or Gerakan winning any seats in Penang and even Perak is now equally remote,incumbent Ministers or otherwise, if DAP is the opposing candidate.

MIC may possibly win some loyal constituencies but with much reduced majority but at best,I expect they will win very much fewer seats this time around. The possibility of being sent almost totally into political limbo is there, given the current weak political leadership in the party.

As for PPP, it will fully depart from the political scene once more riding into the twilight zone.

As for UMNO, its candidates standing in mixed seats may lose marginally, if there is but a weak tsunami in operation.

The best scenario I can see for UMNO is that this time around, it is personalities in UNMO that will win the day and the UMNO platform they stand on, will only be 'incidental'.

If fairer administration is seen in this forthcoming GE, BN will lose more seats.

If BN is fortunate, they will still hold on to Putrajaya but a hung Parliament is imminent.

In management, there is this truism.

"If you know the creature, then you can manage it."

I do not know anyone who knows closely 'what is the creature' of the current political situation in the country. It is one of shifting sands in the desert and you just cannot read it like tea leaves until the sand settles down.And the sand would not settle down because politics is dynamic.

One false step and you will sink and be buried alive in the deep,deep dunes.

I think currently, BN can have about half the support of FELDA settlers;perhaps more than half of the public service incumbents. The rest is anybody's guess.

This is one dangerous position to be in for BN.

In conclusion, knowing what Najib has been grappling with this far with all the political fumbles and controversies, I am quite sure being the person he is, he will not take this step of abandoning the time-tested formula of seat sharing. It's just not the nature of the man. Najib is not truly Machiavellian.

Doing so, will be the straw that breaks the BN camel's back and really put them out of Putrajaya.