Najib and his fake carrot to hoodwink Malaysians

Selena Tay | August 22, 2012

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.