The Bagan Pinang results - the implications

Right from the outset, everyone knows that Pakatan or PAS will not be able to win this by-election even if Mohd Isa Samad of UMNO was not fielded. The army postal votes were enough to dash such a hope of another hat trick by Pakatan, but what was shocking was the increase in the majority of the BN which shot up by 137% compared to that of the March 2008 results. So, the final analysis by our political scientists and bloggers indicated that it was the non-Malays who did the switcher-o. Everyone said it was bread and butter issues that prompted the Chinese and Indians to vote for the UMNO candidate, but let's face, whether it was Isa or any other UMNO candidate, life will still remain the same after the by-election. Are we to say that the income of the people in this backwater constituency will suddenly start to enjoy an income quadruple the amount to that before the by election period? Nay, the income will still remain static and Isa will not be seen till the next election. This fact can be proven by us asking - was there a significant change in the economic well-being of the electorates during the post March 2008 period when the seat was won by an UMNO candidate? Quite frankly, I don't think many of the BP electrorates knew who the candidate was until the day he kicked the bucket and a by-election was called for. Maybe, it was Isa's stature (not his physical being) as a former MB that swung the votes?

Now that we know who won the BP seat, what are the implications?

1. As far as the Indians are concerned, it was between the Kg Buah Pala issue (purportedly caused by DAP) and the cow head incident (purportedly caused by UMNO). The former being a community issue and the latter, a religious issue. By voting for Isa, the Indians are now telling the public at large that a community issue by far is more serious than a religious one? Heck, UMNO can now say, since the Indians are not that really religiously sensitive, I guess we can now continue with our Hindu temple demolition exercise when we deem fit. Have the Indians of BP even given a thought to Tan Sri Khalid and Khalid Samad for putting their lives on the line for the community? I guess not. Well, guys, that's gratitude for you. In case, the Indians of BP forget, it is also a community issue because it involves the Indian residents in Section 23 of Shah Alam. The matter which slipped their minds is that the Kg Buah Pala issue has already been resolved with each family receiving a RM600k property (against BN's offer of a RM75k flat), UMNO not only did not apologise for the cow head incident, but the incident was even condoned by certain UMNO leaders too.

2. Ahhh, the Chinese. Since certain pro-UMNO person has classified the Teoh Beng Hock's death was a racial (read Chinese) incident, shouldn't the Chinese of BP then rise to the occasion by sending a clear message to UMNO that death in the hands of one of it's apparatus is a no-no? So by voting for Isa [read UMNO], sad to say, Teoh Beng Hock has died in vain and that taking the life of another human being is a-ok.

3. Isa was found guilty of corruption. For any person with good morals, should not be standing for an election. Even if he was asked, he should turn it down. But Isa saw this as an opportunity to make a come-back to the big times and walk the corridors of power again. Many bloggers said UMNO, by nominating Isa for the by-election, have legitimize corruption. IMHO, it was not UMNO but the good people of Bagan Pinang who legitimize corruption when they inked the ballot paper on that fatal Saturday. So a corrupt politician is now back and I guess it will be business a usual but what about the implications?

• Do we still need the MACC?
• Do we still need the TI?
• Do we still need SUHAKAM?
• The IPCMC has been put into cold storage for some time now. Will it enter the shredding machine as it is no longer required?
• Do we need to review our school textbooks on Moral Studies that corruption is a good culture to adopt?
• How are we to teach our children to be successful? To be as corrupt as possible?
• Do we need to review our laws that corruption is no longer a crime?
• Will our mata-mata change their approach of asking for money whenever a driver is caught committing a traffic offence? [Currently, it is "So Encik. Sekarang macam selesai itu?" to "So Encik. Berapa awak nak bagi saya?"]
• Will the commission rates be increased many folds for the awarding of projects?

Bagan Pinang, like I said earlier, may be a back water constituency but the way its electrorates voted last Saturday, will have a long lasting impact on the way we go about with our daily lives dealing with the authorities and how the authorities treat its citizens.

God bless Malaysia!