MAY 29 2013
One of the main
reasons BN regime (Barisan Nasional or National Front), led by PM Najib Razak,
fails to perform better in the May 5th 2013 general election was because it
lost in the cyber psychological warfare. Actually opposition PR
(Pakatan Rakyat or People’s Alliance) didn’t do anything extraordinary to win
the heart of the young urban voters. Instead, it was BN that screwed up by
scoring its own goal, and in the process gave away additional 7 parliamentary
and a whopping 32 state seats to the opposition. Basically, what BN did over
the past 5 years since the 2008′s 12th general election was to scream and
broadcast 1Malaysia propaganda almost 24 hours a day.
Back in 2007, Khairy
Jamaluddin, then PM Abdullah Badawi’s son-in-law, insulted netizens as “monkeys” and called for tougher punishments against bloggers. If that was
not bad enough, Information Minister Zainuddin, a cabinet member who had
difficulties differentiating between “election” and “erection”, called bloggers
as nothing less than “Goblok” (Indonesian slang for “stupid”). And who can forget Nazri,
the controversial minister who threaten bloggers with ISA and had fun in
Parliament shouting “You have no brains – Stupid, Stupid, Stupid …” at DAP MP
Lim Kit Siang, insulting wheelchair-bound DAP MP Karpal Singh because he
couldn’t stand, yelling “racist … bloody racist” at DAP MP Kulasegaran 41 times
and whatnot prior.
2007 was also the year
where tens of thousands took to the street under Bersih Rally. The rally was an
instant success, with subsequent version 2 and 3, primarily due to publicity
generated through online blogs. Like it or not, netizens were being forced
to embrace the alternative online media simply because the BN regime uses their
controlled mainstream media for self-praise while attacking opposition. Najib
administration could have win over huge urbanites support should his propaganda
print and electronic media gave a more balance coverage. Urbanites flock to the
internet for alternative (read: opposition) updates simply because BN’s
self-praise effort was excessive thus overkill, so much so that it was so fake and insincere.
Post 2013′s 13th
general election, it seems Najib administration still does not understand the
cyber psychological warfare which they lost dearly. BN’s stone-age mentality
will not help them much in the next 14th general election. Their dominance in
the traditional mainstream media alone will not help them to capture Selangor
or Penang. It was UMNO’s own suppression
and oppression which make Anwar
Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Nik Aziz relevant. UMNO’s
suppression and oppression were like fuels that Anwar needs badly to keep his
machines moving. That was why Anwar’s first priority after failing to march to
Putrajaya was to organize nationwide rallies.
Rally is Anwar’s only
option to keep his supporters alive, without which PKR is as good as dead come
next general election. Of course PR knew they have lost the 13th general
election due to gerrymandering and “first past the post” voting system. They smartly
use 51% popular votes which they won as the silver bullet to convince
their supporters that they’ve actually win the election. What else do you think
they can use to justify their rallies? But people will get bored and tired of
excessive rallies. They can’t possibly attend rally every month, can they? That
was why Anwar and his team didn’t hold back in urging (or rather provoking)
people to get ready for street demonstrations.
Sadly, UMNO walks into the trap set by Anwar.
UMNO with its new sheriff in town, Home Minister Zahid Hamidi, is actually
doing more harm than good by showing his newly found muscle in cracking down
opposition leaders. It seems PM Najib has appointed a worse person to replace
his cousin Hishammuddin Hussein for the job. By telling people who does not
like the present (unfair) electoral system to migrate elsewhere shows Zahid
Hamidi’s arrogance and “gobbedegokness”. Now, by arresting and
re-arresting opposition leaders, Zahid Hamidi is giving new life and
justification for opposition to call more people to take to the street. What
was illegitimate has now become legitimate, literally speaking. The crackdowns
anger the average Joes and Janes.
Many PR supporters who
initially despise street demonstration may now see it as a responsibility to do
so because of such brutal crackdown. No wonder Mahathir’s
worst enemy is none other than his former protégé Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar is a
master in toying with peoples’ sentiment. If a clever person like Mahathir
couldn’t even contain Anwar, did goblok Zahid Hamidi think he can checkmate
opposition Anwar Ibrahim by using similar expired intimidation tactic? Perhaps
Zahid thought he could show off his intelligence by arresting all 89 opposition
MPs and throw them into jail thus forcing by-elections in all the 89
parliamentary seats (*grin*).
An “Operasi
Lalang 2013″ will not work the same way “Operasi Lalang 1987″ did,
if that was what Najib administration plans to do next. Unlike 1987 where
mobile phone was like a sci-fi Star Trek toy, 2013 is the smartphone era where
your photo would be uploaded and shared by millions worldwide instantly if
you’re caught bonking David Beckham’s wife. The best thing to do is to lay low,
just like what deputy PM Muhyiddin is doing now. Ever wonder why Muhyiddin
refrains himself from cursing the Chinese for BN’s less than spectacular win?
That’s because Muhyiddin knows he needs the Chinese votebank in case the Malay
swing the other way in the future.
Now that PM Najib and
de-facto PM Mahathir have burnt the bridge on the Chinese voters, they can
only rely on rural Malay votes, and that’s a foolish strategy. For Mahathir
to spew anti-Chinese venom is understandable but for PM Najib to parrot the
former is absolutely flabbergasted. What if global recession or depression
happens in another five years and the palm oil prices tumble? Will PM Najib
pacify the rural Felda strong supporters to the tune of millions or billions in
taxpayers money due to income losses, without which this ethnic-Malay voters
would throw their support behind the opposition? That’s the price you’ve to pay
by playing racial cards.
On the other hand,
opposition can expect the urban vote-bank, especially the Chinese, to remain
loyal with it. With the estimated 80% – 90% Chinese votes in its pocket, PKR
can now pull all its resources concentrating in the rural areas. It’s safe to
speculate at this junction that the Chinese will not go anywhere but
the opposition. If BN’s free flow of money, food, beers, entertainments,
lucky draws and whatnot cannot change the Chinese hearts, nothing will. But the
same cannot be said about BN – it has to not only defend its rural votebank but
to pray there’s no internal nor external
factors that could potentially swing its only
rural supporters.
In short, opposition
PR has a better chance of swinging the rural Malay voters than BN in changing
the urban multi-racial voters’ perception. Najib administration has to
understand that unlike 1987 where the memory about the political crackdown
would disappear over time, a repeat of similar brutality in 2013 will be
remembered for a very long time, thanks to online media. While the opposition is growing its cake, Najib administration is
shrinking its cake. That’s not a
very clever thing to do and clamping down on opposition just after the election
is helping Anwar’s justification in questioning Najib administration’s
legitimacy.
Home Minister Zahid
Hamidi is equivalent to Perkasa Ibrahim Ali and Nazri Aziz combined – arrogant with stupidity blended. If
12th and 13th general elections were the Indian and Chinese tsunamis
respectively, will 14th general election be the Malay tsunami? Looking at
Najib’s newly formed cabinet members, it seems Anwar would have relatively easy
meat come next general election. Anwar’s next plan should go all the way into
the rural villages and start his provocation strategy, with some fine tuning
and bells and whistles thrown in
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