SELANGOR – STILL VERY MUCH BARISAN TERRITORY.
…PAKATAN NOWHERE TO BE SEEN EXCEPT FOR THE BANNERS TO SHOW THE PHOTOS OF THEIR ELECTED OFFICIALS THAT ARE HUNG EVEYWHERE.
By Mansor Puteh
By all accounts, Selangor is still very much Barisan Nasional territory. This is despite the fact that in the last general elections, Pakatan Rakyat had won the state and they are supposed to be in full control of it and their presence can be seen and felt everywhere.
But the truth of the matter is that they had only so far managed to control the state administration building and the state assembly in Shahalam and their ‘menteri besar’ getting to have an audience with the Sultan of Selangor every week, and leaving the rest of the state to Barisan to be the de facto government of the state.
Can Khalid Ibrahim think he is the ‘menteri besar’ of Selangor in such a circumstance? He does not behave or even look like one, to start with.
There is no Pakatan influence in the daily lives of the people of Selangor. I am writing and living in this state, so I know and I cannot feel it. In fact, I can even say there is no government in this state that we know of!
The only way they know on how to show their faces and influence in the state is to hang banners and posters with their faces everywhere, especially during festive seasons. Theirs are unfamiliar faces. And they do not look like they are politicians. They are ordinary faces with no extraordinary capabilities.
It is ironic how they are copying what many other Barisan leaders of the old generation had done in the past, which they are not doing now. So one cannot see banners with photos of Prime Minister, Najib Razak anywhere in the country. The few that were put up were immediately put down and replaced with other images of the country and its people.
Yet, they are nowhere to be seen. They have not visited their constituencies. They can’t do that because the people do not recognize them for who they are. They had not done anything to their constituency.
In fact, during the campaigning period of the last general elections, they were also nowhere to be seen. So the voters did not actually vote for them; they only voted for anyone who is not from Barisan.
In fact, many of the Pakatan candidates were new faces who did not mind losing even their deposit because they were not known, so they did not have any reputation at all, so if they had lost, they would not be angry with themselves, as they were put up as candidates only to lose.
It is sad for the people to have such elected leaders as their members of parliament of ADUN or state assembly persons, most of whom are not so well-educated and whose command of the Malay and English languages are not very good. Not many of them had been known to be the champion of causes that we know of.
Take a good look at the Member of Parliament for Kelana Jaya. He is such a novice, that he had to read his question in Malay in parliament and asking the then foreign minister, Syed Hamid a question which sounded very stupid.
The people of Kelana Jaya should be ashamed of themselves for having such a person to represent them. He could not even represent himself, if he has a case in court.
Yet, none of the novice parliamentarians and state assembly persons has become important personalities or ‘leaders’ who can lead the pack. They have not become the ‘right honorable’ because they do not deserve to be so regarded.
Don’t they feel ashamed for putting up their banners with their photos on street lamps by showing their faces which look blank and uneducated?
I see the end of these people if they dare to contest again in the next general elections which are expected to happen in 2012. They are a disgrace to Pakatan. They were non-existence before the last general elections, yet, they are still no-one now, even after being turned into office. What have they done? What have they written or said that we can remember and admire them for?
Even the ‘menteri besar’ of Selangor is not impressive. He has not dared to make the rounds even in his own state. The reason is simply that he does not feel like he is the ‘menteri besar’ of the state of Selangor, but someone who is in control of only the state administration office in Shahalam and the state assembly, and nowhere else.He and his state exco members are very much like the Portuguese who ruled in Melaka. But what they could do was only to be trapped inside the Fort of Melaka they had constructed, which was to ensure that they were not harmed or attacked by the people of Melaka.
So now we have the Fort of Selangor in Shahalam where the ‘menteri besar’ and his exco members are trapped in.
Most of the garbage that are stuck in drains and the petty problems left by Barisan before they were elected out of the state by its voters are still there. And it still takes many weeks before the local authorities can fix problems with fused bulbs in the streets.
Where is Pakatan in Selangor? And what are the Pakatanians doing here, where I live? It’s Barisan everywhere.
The elected representatives and leaders of Pakatan do not seem to know that their duty is to ensure that their presence is felt, or else, the voters in Selangor will think that they are not around.
Their leaders seem to be locked in their offices in Shahalam. And they also control the state assembly, but they do not seem to know what to do with the state.
If the Pakatan leaders are smart, they will take this opportunity to rule Selangor so that their presence is felt, and so that the voters can think that they are agents of change.
But this has not happened despite Pakatan being turned in by the voters in the 8 March, 2008 general elections which is one and a half years now. And they are almost midway in their control of the state.
They should realize fast how their win over Selangor was nothing but a fluke; that the voters were too anxious to get rid of the former Barisan state government and its ‘menteri besar’ Khir Toyo, without realizing how they had indirectly given the state to Pakatan instead.
Many of the voters in Selangor, especially the Malay ones felt a remorse for having done that, so they are now eagerly and anxiously waiting for the next general elections which are expect to happen sometime in 2012, when they can trounce Pakatan out of the state for good.
This is the only chance for Pakatan to take control of Selangor and so far they have done a useless job at it.
That the Pakatan leaders who were voted into the state assembly and with some becoming executive committee (exco) members have not shown the mettle. They also lack the persona to be leaders. They only like to fuss over petty issues.
They have not really done anything to claim the whole state and entrench their position in it, so that their presence can be felt by the people in Selangor, so that they can be returned in the next general elections.
Worst of all is that Pakatan has not shown that they are worthy successors to Barisan in Selangor. That they had won the state because the voters were displeased with the former Barisan state government, and not because they thought that Pakatan was better. They are not.
In fact, Pakatan’s track record so far has been dismal. They have failed to make the state theirs. They have not claimed it.
I don’t want to propose to them what they should do in order to achieve this, since I do not want to be seen to be doing them too much favor, other than to tell them what I am writing in this essay.
They should know what else they can do to claim the state and to trounce Barisan from it, so that they can continue to rule Selangor in the next general elections.
PAS is able to rule Kelantan for many terms despite not being able to do much to develop the state with so many younger Kelantanese leaving the state to work in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.
PAS is seen as a Kelantan-based political party and its spiritual leader, Nik Aziz has managed to show his image of a pious person who likes to live simply. And they know how to keep the state but not know how to develop it.
But the people of Kelantan do not want to live simply; they want progress and development so they had to venture outside of the state to get some whiff of that.
So if Barisan wants to take over the state from PAS in the next general elections, they must convince the Kelantan voters that they, too, are Kelantanese and can keep the state, and develop it at the same time.
They can tell the young Kelantan voters who live outside of the state to work that the PAS government is the reason why they are not in Kelantan but elsewhere because they cannot find work in the state.
It looks to me like those in Pakatan who have become state assembly persons and exco are just happy to be elected and they do not know what else is there for them to do besides, which is sad, since there is a lot that they can do to win the support of the voters in Selangor. But they are not doing it, because they do not know how to do it.
By Mansor Puteh
By all accounts, Selangor is still very much Barisan Nasional territory. This is despite the fact that in the last general elections, Pakatan Rakyat had won the state and they are supposed to be in full control of it and their presence can be seen and felt everywhere.
But the truth of the matter is that they had only so far managed to control the state administration building and the state assembly in Shahalam and their ‘menteri besar’ getting to have an audience with the Sultan of Selangor every week, and leaving the rest of the state to Barisan to be the de facto government of the state.
Can Khalid Ibrahim think he is the ‘menteri besar’ of Selangor in such a circumstance? He does not behave or even look like one, to start with.
There is no Pakatan influence in the daily lives of the people of Selangor. I am writing and living in this state, so I know and I cannot feel it. In fact, I can even say there is no government in this state that we know of!
The only way they know on how to show their faces and influence in the state is to hang banners and posters with their faces everywhere, especially during festive seasons. Theirs are unfamiliar faces. And they do not look like they are politicians. They are ordinary faces with no extraordinary capabilities.
It is ironic how they are copying what many other Barisan leaders of the old generation had done in the past, which they are not doing now. So one cannot see banners with photos of Prime Minister, Najib Razak anywhere in the country. The few that were put up were immediately put down and replaced with other images of the country and its people.
Yet, they are nowhere to be seen. They have not visited their constituencies. They can’t do that because the people do not recognize them for who they are. They had not done anything to their constituency.
In fact, during the campaigning period of the last general elections, they were also nowhere to be seen. So the voters did not actually vote for them; they only voted for anyone who is not from Barisan.
In fact, many of the Pakatan candidates were new faces who did not mind losing even their deposit because they were not known, so they did not have any reputation at all, so if they had lost, they would not be angry with themselves, as they were put up as candidates only to lose.
It is sad for the people to have such elected leaders as their members of parliament of ADUN or state assembly persons, most of whom are not so well-educated and whose command of the Malay and English languages are not very good. Not many of them had been known to be the champion of causes that we know of.
Take a good look at the Member of Parliament for Kelana Jaya. He is such a novice, that he had to read his question in Malay in parliament and asking the then foreign minister, Syed Hamid a question which sounded very stupid.
The people of Kelana Jaya should be ashamed of themselves for having such a person to represent them. He could not even represent himself, if he has a case in court.
Yet, none of the novice parliamentarians and state assembly persons has become important personalities or ‘leaders’ who can lead the pack. They have not become the ‘right honorable’ because they do not deserve to be so regarded.
Don’t they feel ashamed for putting up their banners with their photos on street lamps by showing their faces which look blank and uneducated?
I see the end of these people if they dare to contest again in the next general elections which are expected to happen in 2012. They are a disgrace to Pakatan. They were non-existence before the last general elections, yet, they are still no-one now, even after being turned into office. What have they done? What have they written or said that we can remember and admire them for?
Even the ‘menteri besar’ of Selangor is not impressive. He has not dared to make the rounds even in his own state. The reason is simply that he does not feel like he is the ‘menteri besar’ of the state of Selangor, but someone who is in control of only the state administration office in Shahalam and the state assembly, and nowhere else.He and his state exco members are very much like the Portuguese who ruled in Melaka. But what they could do was only to be trapped inside the Fort of Melaka they had constructed, which was to ensure that they were not harmed or attacked by the people of Melaka.
So now we have the Fort of Selangor in Shahalam where the ‘menteri besar’ and his exco members are trapped in.
Most of the garbage that are stuck in drains and the petty problems left by Barisan before they were elected out of the state by its voters are still there. And it still takes many weeks before the local authorities can fix problems with fused bulbs in the streets.
Where is Pakatan in Selangor? And what are the Pakatanians doing here, where I live? It’s Barisan everywhere.
The elected representatives and leaders of Pakatan do not seem to know that their duty is to ensure that their presence is felt, or else, the voters in Selangor will think that they are not around.
Their leaders seem to be locked in their offices in Shahalam. And they also control the state assembly, but they do not seem to know what to do with the state.
If the Pakatan leaders are smart, they will take this opportunity to rule Selangor so that their presence is felt, and so that the voters can think that they are agents of change.
But this has not happened despite Pakatan being turned in by the voters in the 8 March, 2008 general elections which is one and a half years now. And they are almost midway in their control of the state.
They should realize fast how their win over Selangor was nothing but a fluke; that the voters were too anxious to get rid of the former Barisan state government and its ‘menteri besar’ Khir Toyo, without realizing how they had indirectly given the state to Pakatan instead.
Many of the voters in Selangor, especially the Malay ones felt a remorse for having done that, so they are now eagerly and anxiously waiting for the next general elections which are expect to happen sometime in 2012, when they can trounce Pakatan out of the state for good.
This is the only chance for Pakatan to take control of Selangor and so far they have done a useless job at it.
That the Pakatan leaders who were voted into the state assembly and with some becoming executive committee (exco) members have not shown the mettle. They also lack the persona to be leaders. They only like to fuss over petty issues.
They have not really done anything to claim the whole state and entrench their position in it, so that their presence can be felt by the people in Selangor, so that they can be returned in the next general elections.
Worst of all is that Pakatan has not shown that they are worthy successors to Barisan in Selangor. That they had won the state because the voters were displeased with the former Barisan state government, and not because they thought that Pakatan was better. They are not.
In fact, Pakatan’s track record so far has been dismal. They have failed to make the state theirs. They have not claimed it.
I don’t want to propose to them what they should do in order to achieve this, since I do not want to be seen to be doing them too much favor, other than to tell them what I am writing in this essay.
They should know what else they can do to claim the state and to trounce Barisan from it, so that they can continue to rule Selangor in the next general elections.
PAS is able to rule Kelantan for many terms despite not being able to do much to develop the state with so many younger Kelantanese leaving the state to work in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.
PAS is seen as a Kelantan-based political party and its spiritual leader, Nik Aziz has managed to show his image of a pious person who likes to live simply. And they know how to keep the state but not know how to develop it.
But the people of Kelantan do not want to live simply; they want progress and development so they had to venture outside of the state to get some whiff of that.
So if Barisan wants to take over the state from PAS in the next general elections, they must convince the Kelantan voters that they, too, are Kelantanese and can keep the state, and develop it at the same time.
They can tell the young Kelantan voters who live outside of the state to work that the PAS government is the reason why they are not in Kelantan but elsewhere because they cannot find work in the state.
It looks to me like those in Pakatan who have become state assembly persons and exco are just happy to be elected and they do not know what else is there for them to do besides, which is sad, since there is a lot that they can do to win the support of the voters in Selangor. But they are not doing it, because they do not know how to do it.
Comments
It is not about development especially when many 'overseas' Kelantanese prefer to see their state exactly the way when they left it. The laid back and everything. With the Barisan-branded development obviously doing more good to the cronies than to the common people, I dont think that the Kelantanese are that eager for the development bait. Politics to the Kelantanese are very dirty. Be it of PAS or Barisan. Unlike people from other states, they know it too well and 'development' to them is nothing but the same very old and lame topic to hang on ...
They just dont care about who's in control really, as long as they are not losing like the Malays are losing to non-Malays in other big cities / states thru out Malaysia, they are obviously happy with their current achievement. No matter how outsiders see them.
So, talking development & finding work to the Kelantanese ?
Hahhahahahh .. u must be joking.
p/s: Who owns the 'development' really ?