If the election comes after the Budget is
presented, then the Budget can be labelled as 'Belanjawan Acah', meaning
that it is a fake carrot being dangled to woo the voters.
“Parliament
will only be dissolved after PAS and DAP have a big quarrel and split
up from Pakatan Rakyat. And that is why Umno and MCA are now hellbent on
doing a rush job in attacking DAP in order to instigate a quarrel
between us and DAP,” said PAS Perak strategist, Idris Ahmad, who is also
a member of the PAS central working committee.
According to Ustaz Idris, many former high-ranking civil servants have now joined PAS and this is something unprecedented.
This has caused Umno to panic terribly and in order to woo Malay
support away from PAS, Umno attacks DAP which is an ally of PAS, with
the evil intention of showing up PAS in a bad light so that PAS will
lose credibility among the Malays.
“Umno has conveniently forgotten that this attack on DAP has
backfired on itself as the Malays are now questioning Umno’s stand in
regard to MCA, which not only rejects hudud but also insults Islamic
practices,” commented Ustaz Idris.
This shows that Umno wants to hold the 13th general election in
September, but is not prepared to do so unless there is a big rift
between PAS and DAP.
PAS Bukit Gantang MP, Nizar Jamaluddin, also remarked that Umno has
no more ideas on how to attack Pakatan and therefore is resorting to the
old method of race and religion. He added that now PAS will be kept
busy having to explain again to its supporters why PAS is collaborating
with DAP.
It is thus blindingly obvious that Umno leaders have become extremely
desperate. This “Haram Sokong DAP” exhortation is intended to claw back
Malay support for Umno. For them, it is 24/7 politicking, in season and
out of season.
Idris also added that there will be more attacks launched on DAP in
the near future to prepare the ground for the general election.
“MCA will say that DAP has bowed down to PAS while Umno will say that
DAP is anti-Islam. This two-pronged attack on DAP is done to weaken
PAS, to break off non-Malay support for PAS and to cut off Malay support
for PAS,” said Dzulkefly Ahmad, the PAS strategist who is also the
Kuala Selangor MP.
The non-Muslims, especially the Chinese, will then dislike PAS for
“bullying” DAP while the Malays will dislike PAS for capitulating to DAP
– this is Umno’s ultimate gameplan.
Hadi Awang, the PAS president, commented that hopefully the rakyat is wise enough to see through Umno’s ploy.
Umno came up with this Machiavellian plan because it has run out of
ammunition to attack Pakatan and this final bullet is used to target DAP
as it wants to fast-track the destruction of DAP and Pakatan before
calling for the polls.
Idris is firmly believes that if suddenly there is a big crack or
split in Pakatan this month, then the polls will certainly be held in
September.
Otherwise it may be pushed forward to early November when the haj
season is over. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is thus playing a
wait-and-see game. Moreover, the advantage and prerogative belongs to
him as he can call for the polls anytime.
‘Belanjawan Acah’
In addition, the Budget presentation is coming up on Sept 28 so the
prime minister has to keep that in mind. Still, the general election
must be held this year due to the uncertain global economic climate
forecast for next year. This means that Najib is trapped.
If the general election is held before the Budget, then the rakyat
will say that the federal government has got no money and wants to avoid
giving goodies, but if the polls are held after the Budget, Pakatan can
counter the Budget during the polls campaign.
For that matter, the federal government which lacks ideas may even
adopt some of Pakatan’s ideas, which have been voiced out now, for
instance, lowering car prices.
This method is certainly not new to the federal government as in the
case of the Sept 16 national holiday, which was originally mooted by
PKR’s Anwar Ibrahim.
As the prime minister has left it too late, the only avenue opened to
him now is to pound away at DAP in order for Pakatan to implode. That
will also ease the pressure on MCA.
Be that as it may, even if the Budget has 1,001 goodies, it will have
to be re-done after the general election if the election is held after
the Budget presentation. Then the goodies offered in the Budget can be
retracted using the excuse of the global economic slowdown.
It is thus more exciting to see the Budget that will be presented by Pakatan if Pakatan were to form the federal government.
“If the election comes after the Budget is presented, then the Budget
can be labelled as ‘Belanjawan Acah’, meaning that it is a fake carrot
being dangled to woo the voters,” added Dzulkefly.
Therefore, it remains to be seen if the voters are smart enough to
see through BN’s cunning ploy. A smart reading of the game is a
requirement.
Selena Tay is a FMT columnist.
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