Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Penang will be interesting to watch come Election Day
After weeks of sniping in Penang, the Prime Minister has stepped in, and declared that the Penang state government must do more to help the Malays. He said the problems faced by the Malays were serious and that the issues needs to be addressed, as reported in the New Straits Times today. What the real problems are in Penang, are still unclear amidst the tremendous noise created by UMNO Youth in recent weeks. Real facts still elude Malaysians. Real debate or an intelligent delivery of grievances have yet to surface from the seemingly aggrieved party. The ruling party in Penang, Gerakan, in fact had delivered a rebuttal to dismiss claims of the Malays being subjugated, complete with facts and statistics during its recent annual general meeting. But alas, that did not calm certain quarters. It seems to me that no matter what Gerakan did or will do, it just won't be enough; it's as if some quarters wanted to ensure the Chief Ministership is rotated no matter what.
And the Prime Minister's directive to the state government yesterday, seemed to indicate that the writing may be on the wall, pertaining to Gerakan's hold on the Chief Minister post. It seems to be a message to Gerakan that it must bend to the will of the ruling party however unfair it may be because that's in line with Ketuanan Melayu. The Prime Minister says this in the wake of rude banners hoisted at an event to embarrass the current Chief Minister It certainly runs contrary to the much-touted Barisan Nasional way of doing things. It will be interesting to see how Gerakan reacts.
But one thing is certain; with the Prime Minister throwing his lot behind a vocal group within UMNO Youth in regards to the Penang issue, the Chinese on the ground is likely to hit back silently at the ballot box. If the General Elections is held early next year, as speculations indicate, BN may be in for a shock. The island is strongly Chinese in feel and coupled with other issues in recent months that have disturbed the non-Malay population as a whole such as the increasing call for more Islamicisation, rewriting of school textbooks which include ommission of non-Malay historical personalities and corruption, I think voters may send a strong unmistakable message in the coming General Elections. The Opposition may be smelling blood already. Who knows, all the calls for a Malay Chief Minister for Penang may just go up in smoke if Mr Lim Kit Siang is sworn in as the Penang big man post-elections! ¶ 4:36 PM
And the Prime Minister's directive to the state government yesterday, seemed to indicate that the writing may be on the wall, pertaining to Gerakan's hold on the Chief Minister post. It seems to be a message to Gerakan that it must bend to the will of the ruling party however unfair it may be because that's in line with Ketuanan Melayu. The Prime Minister says this in the wake of rude banners hoisted at an event to embarrass the current Chief Minister It certainly runs contrary to the much-touted Barisan Nasional way of doing things. It will be interesting to see how Gerakan reacts.
But one thing is certain; with the Prime Minister throwing his lot behind a vocal group within UMNO Youth in regards to the Penang issue, the Chinese on the ground is likely to hit back silently at the ballot box. If the General Elections is held early next year, as speculations indicate, BN may be in for a shock. The island is strongly Chinese in feel and coupled with other issues in recent months that have disturbed the non-Malay population as a whole such as the increasing call for more Islamicisation, rewriting of school textbooks which include ommission of non-Malay historical personalities and corruption, I think voters may send a strong unmistakable message in the coming General Elections. The Opposition may be smelling blood already. Who knows, all the calls for a Malay Chief Minister for Penang may just go up in smoke if Mr Lim Kit Siang is sworn in as the Penang big man post-elections! ¶ 4:36 PM
