Archive for April 2009
P059 Bukit Gantang : An icon is born
Dato' Seri Ir. Hj. Mohammad Nizar bin Jamaluddin
It’s very difficult to argue against the fact that Perak Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Ir. Hj. Mohammad Nizar bin Jamaluddin is fast becoming an icon for the people of his home state (and mine too!) Perak Darul Ridzuan.
His victory in the P059 Bukit Gantang by-elections -which was triggered by the death of it’s previous MP, his party college Hj. Roslan Shaharun in Febuary- when he defeated the Barisan Nasional’s Ismail bin Saffian with an increased majority than one sealed by the late Roslan in March 2008.
Nizar polled 21 860 votes to Ismail’s 19 071 with an Independant candidate Kamarul Ramizu Idris securing a mere 62 votes. With the even larger majority of 2 789 votes, the Pasir Panjang State Legislative Council member has underscored the paradigm shift sweeping across the country that UMNO is fast becoming irrelevant and that the rakyat are demanding a fairer, corruption-free administration and less racially inclined governence.
While admittedly a risk putting Nizar in Bukit Gantang in the first place, since Bukit Gantang has perpetually been a Alliance and subsequently Barisan stronghold since 1955 until last year’s election, the risk paid off handsomely and Nizar is now set to set Malaysia’s Dewan Rakyat on fire.
All in all, congratulations to Nizar and I hope that this election will be a wakeup call to Barisan’s Gerakan and PPP to seriously re-evaluate their position in the coalition. UMNO, MCA and MIC are symbols of the past, a past that is long gone and shall never return. The days when UMNO, MCA and MIC were real good parties is over and what is left is a souless entity drifting through the passage of time.
I’m particularly fond of the PPP, a party which is in all honesty, a wonderful close-kit party with a family-like atmosphere but until they ditch the Barisan, the once proud party that nearly captured the Perak government in 1969 will be confined to footnotes in history.
Gerakan too has to realise that an UMNO, MCA and MIC-led Barisan is not a viable entity anymore and the best is to pull out of it. Until this happens, these two parties will find it very difficult to rise and win back the educated and urban rakyat once again.
