Everyone who at least reads news in one type of media or another, be it internet, newspaper, TV or just radio can tell you the General Election is around the corner. This time it’s almost a sure bet, judging from the 360 degrees turn the way news were presented to the audience (you dude). And if you happen to love chatting with buddies at “mamak stall” over a glass of teh-tarik (what’s the price now?), chances are the conversation will drift into the same topic.

No more name-calling and definitely no more old sandiwara among the party components within the Malaysia ruling government. In the land where the three major ethnics of Malay, Chinese and Indian form the main composition, the trick of bashing each other within the same ruling party (Umno represent Malay while MCA represent Chinese and MIC represent Indian) has been proved to be the most efficient method in championing a particular race’s support and hence uplift the votes from the grassroots. This tactic had and will be re-use again to fish for votes from the voters who are known to be easily forget and forgive, everytime the people are not satisfy with certain policies.

There’s no doubt the current ruling government will continue to rule the country for decades to come as the chance of losing, even the two-third majority is very slim, so much so that it was said it’s easier to hit the lottery-ticket-jackpot than to deny the current government of its two-third majority. However since the current government under the leadership of Badawi was given the landslide victory (more than 90%) in the last general election, many are waiting to see if the same score could be maintained.

Today, you can see how the premier Badawi launched multiple “Corridors” to market and paint a rosy picture of how the economy will prospers for decades to come. From southern to northern and eastern part of Peninsular Malaysia, he continued his journey into the Sabah and more promises had been laid.

For the first time, the premier has said “I am your Prime Minister and I have to be fair to all” – a statement referring to the Upko party (a component of ruling government) president Bernard Dompok’s recent concerns over the conflict in the implementation of powers of the Syariah and civil courts, particularly on the impact of religious conversion cases on families and property distribution.

If the general election is not near, going by the normal habit of the ruling government, the main party Umno would have come out in mass forces demanding apology from Bernard and will threaten and intimidate him not to play with sensitive issue or face the music. What better way to champion and have your face printed all over the government-controlled medias than to issue such threat? Sounds familiar eh?

Over the years, there have been cases where Muslims and Muslim converts have gone to the civil courts in their attempts to leave Islam or over distribution of property, only to find that the courts, in rejecting their applications, advised them to seek redress under Syariah law – giving an impression than Syariah Court is the highest court with the ultimate say in delivering the verdict, often bias nevertheless.

Also, going by the normal SOP (standard operating procedure), you would have 99% of the Umno crazy-for-publisity wannabes issueing and urging the government to punish the “boy” with nothing less than banning him from coming back to the country and to strip him of the citizenship while his father being hauled into police station and put into intimidation chamber for hours or days with all the threats you can think of, including the famous ISA. Aren’t you surprise with the “mild” show of disapprovals by the Umno?
The amazing part is that the MCA party is seeking the soft approach to calm the situation over the rap video made by Wee Meng Chee, a 24-year-old mass communications student at Ming Chuan University in Taiwan. The student however said he wrote the song in conjunction with Malaysia’s 50th anniversary of independence as a gift to his country. His father, in an interview with Sin Chew Daily, defended his son’s patriotism as the student had insisted on taking along the Jalur Gemilang (the national flag) when he left for Taiwan to study.

The above are just some signs that point to the fact that general election is very very near. The symptoms are there, and if you care to read news on daily basis, you would know that the same repetitive process or techniques in fishing for votes had already started.

It’ll be interesting to see what else could be pulled out from the ruling party’s pocket in order to create and maintain the feel-good environment especially on the vulnerable local stock market currently affected by the U.S. subprime mortgage mini crisis, at least till the election is over.

Other Articles That May Interest You …

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• The War between Bloggers and Government Peaks
• Lina Joy Losses Appeal – More to Come?

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August 12th, 2007 by financetwitter

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