Pakatan Rakyat leaders are unflustered by claims that Barisan Nasional is slowly regaining voter support, based on the large turnout at the Chinese New Year celebration in Pandamaran last week.
BN's ego was even given a boost by long-time Star columnist Baradan Kuppusamy who praised BN for magnanimously admitting its past mistakes while rival Pakatan was accused of becoming increasingly “arrogant”.
Baradan also accused Pakatan of attempting to scupper the BN event by taking down banners and forcing them to change the event venue from Pandamaran by “giving various thinly disguised excuses”.
These were, he wrote, tactics employed by BN before they were punished severely at the 12th General Election. Pakatan, especially PKR and DAP are now becoming unabashedly arrogant because of the constant 'trappings of power'.
“They used to dress in simple white shirts but today they go about smartly dressed in expensive outfits and with an entourage constantly in tow,” said the columnist.
Despite the Pakatan-bashing, Klang DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago said the people should not evaluate the opposition coalition based on the clothes they wear, but “the policies that are being put forward.
“They should judge us based on our policies and the work we do on the ground. Most of our assemblypersons and MPs are continuing to doing what they have been doing even before we came into power,” he told FMT when contacted.
Santiago also said that Pakatan had never sabotaged BN's event by taking down the banners and forcing them to move to another venue.
According to him, they only protested against a 'huge billboard' with BN leaders' photos in Pandamaran which was put with the required permit from the Klang Municipal Council (MPK).
“The support structure for the billboard was suspect and could have collapsed in the event of heavy rain. So for safety reasons, we urged it to be taken down.
“(Besides), there are rules and regulations on billboards and it requires a permit from MPK, there was no application made or approval sought to put it up,” said Santiago.
The first-term parliamentarian clarified that the they did not force BN to move to a different venue as alleged but “advised them to hold their function to an appropriate place.
“This was because the venue they chose was not strategic. It was on the side of Jalan Chang Ah Choon and there was no way it could accommodate 40,000 people as reported,” he said.
Don't label us as arrogant
PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah said it was unfair for the columnist to describe the Pakatan coalition as 'arrogant'.
“He has made a very shallow analysis. It was as if he wanted to personalise a political movement by labelling it arrogant. This is meaningless,” he told FMT.
Furthermore, said the Subang parliamentarian said political values of the party is more essential compared to emotional values.
“In politics, people know what Pakatan or BN stands for. The question to ask should be, how much has Pakatan done in Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Kelantan compared to the BN government?
“For example, Selangor is more consultative compared to the previous BN administration. The government regularly talks to the people and the local government is much more people friendly,” he said.
Sivarasa also pointed out that Pakatan governments have always prioritised transparency in their administration which he claimed, was never achieved during the previous BN's tenure.
“The Selangor government especially, have declassified several documents and this is a mark of a transparent government. One should talk about this and not emotional words like arrogant,” he said.
He also defended the 'expensive, smart clothes' that Pakatan leaders sport now.
“There is no harm in that if they have official meetings to attend. What is wrong with that? Sometimes people expect us to be well dressed.
“But this does not mean we are arrogant. Whenever we meet senior business people or diplomats, we can't walk around in t-shirt and jeans, can we?” asked Sivarasa.
BN will win big in the next GE
Despite its self-assured confidence, common folk seem to have a different view of Pakatan who say it has yet to deliver on promises made to them after two years in power.
“I agree that they have become arrogant. BN will win back voters because it has learnt its lesson after having lost so much during the last general election,” said 60-year-old housewife S Renumathi.
The Rawang resident also said the Pakatan representatives in Selangor are not reaching out to those in the rural areas of the state.
“Only the powerful with connections get the things they want. Crime is becoming a major concern in Selangor,” she said.
Renumathi also lamented the lack of concern and service from the representatives, contrary to the promises before winning the seat in the constituency.
“They always have the time to go around campaigning when they want votes but now that they have won, we hardly see our MP in the area,” said Renumathi.
For 61-year-old R Subramaniam who also hails from Rawang, BN will win back the state if the current situation persists.
“They keep pointing fingers at the previous government, but they themselves are practising the same mode of operation,” he said.
However, 25-year-old private sector worker Hisham Hussein from Cheras said that Pakatan leaders are “not arrogant but have become complacent".
"They simply need to buck up!" said Hisham.
FMT
25/02/10
BN's ego was even given a boost by long-time Star columnist Baradan Kuppusamy who praised BN for magnanimously admitting its past mistakes while rival Pakatan was accused of becoming increasingly “arrogant”.
Baradan also accused Pakatan of attempting to scupper the BN event by taking down banners and forcing them to change the event venue from Pandamaran by “giving various thinly disguised excuses”.
These were, he wrote, tactics employed by BN before they were punished severely at the 12th General Election. Pakatan, especially PKR and DAP are now becoming unabashedly arrogant because of the constant 'trappings of power'.
“They used to dress in simple white shirts but today they go about smartly dressed in expensive outfits and with an entourage constantly in tow,” said the columnist.
Despite the Pakatan-bashing, Klang DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago said the people should not evaluate the opposition coalition based on the clothes they wear, but “the policies that are being put forward.
“They should judge us based on our policies and the work we do on the ground. Most of our assemblypersons and MPs are continuing to doing what they have been doing even before we came into power,” he told FMT when contacted.
Santiago also said that Pakatan had never sabotaged BN's event by taking down the banners and forcing them to move to another venue.
According to him, they only protested against a 'huge billboard' with BN leaders' photos in Pandamaran which was put with the required permit from the Klang Municipal Council (MPK).
“The support structure for the billboard was suspect and could have collapsed in the event of heavy rain. So for safety reasons, we urged it to be taken down.
“(Besides), there are rules and regulations on billboards and it requires a permit from MPK, there was no application made or approval sought to put it up,” said Santiago.
The first-term parliamentarian clarified that the they did not force BN to move to a different venue as alleged but “advised them to hold their function to an appropriate place.
“This was because the venue they chose was not strategic. It was on the side of Jalan Chang Ah Choon and there was no way it could accommodate 40,000 people as reported,” he said.
Don't label us as arrogant
PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah said it was unfair for the columnist to describe the Pakatan coalition as 'arrogant'.
“He has made a very shallow analysis. It was as if he wanted to personalise a political movement by labelling it arrogant. This is meaningless,” he told FMT.
Furthermore, said the Subang parliamentarian said political values of the party is more essential compared to emotional values.
“In politics, people know what Pakatan or BN stands for. The question to ask should be, how much has Pakatan done in Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Kelantan compared to the BN government?
“For example, Selangor is more consultative compared to the previous BN administration. The government regularly talks to the people and the local government is much more people friendly,” he said.
Sivarasa also pointed out that Pakatan governments have always prioritised transparency in their administration which he claimed, was never achieved during the previous BN's tenure.
“The Selangor government especially, have declassified several documents and this is a mark of a transparent government. One should talk about this and not emotional words like arrogant,” he said.
He also defended the 'expensive, smart clothes' that Pakatan leaders sport now.
“There is no harm in that if they have official meetings to attend. What is wrong with that? Sometimes people expect us to be well dressed.
“But this does not mean we are arrogant. Whenever we meet senior business people or diplomats, we can't walk around in t-shirt and jeans, can we?” asked Sivarasa.
BN will win big in the next GE
Despite its self-assured confidence, common folk seem to have a different view of Pakatan who say it has yet to deliver on promises made to them after two years in power.
“I agree that they have become arrogant. BN will win back voters because it has learnt its lesson after having lost so much during the last general election,” said 60-year-old housewife S Renumathi.
The Rawang resident also said the Pakatan representatives in Selangor are not reaching out to those in the rural areas of the state.
“Only the powerful with connections get the things they want. Crime is becoming a major concern in Selangor,” she said.
Renumathi also lamented the lack of concern and service from the representatives, contrary to the promises before winning the seat in the constituency.
“They always have the time to go around campaigning when they want votes but now that they have won, we hardly see our MP in the area,” said Renumathi.
For 61-year-old R Subramaniam who also hails from Rawang, BN will win back the state if the current situation persists.
“They keep pointing fingers at the previous government, but they themselves are practising the same mode of operation,” he said.
However, 25-year-old private sector worker Hisham Hussein from Cheras said that Pakatan leaders are “not arrogant but have become complacent".
"They simply need to buck up!" said Hisham.
FMT
25/02/10
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