The latest report to emanate from the Barisan Nasional camp is that in the 13th General Election, it expects to win more than the 140 parliamentary seats it took in the 2008 General Election and that its worst-case scenario is winning just over 120 seats.
But this is only one of the many projections making their rounds with the worst-case scenario for the Barisan Nasional ranging from the bleak one of losing majority control of Parliament to the even more dismal one which would give Barisan Nasional a total of less than 100 parliamentary seats.
For the first time in the nation’s 55-year history and in thirteen General Elections, Malaysian voters have within their hands the power to decide whether the time has come for a change of Federal government although this would be heavily dependent on whether the next general election is a free, fair and clean one.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is not confident that he will survive unscathed to continue as the sixth Prime Minister after the 13GE, and this is why he had dillied and dallied for almost two years over when to call for general election although he cannot be unaware of the pressure from the ignominy of being the longest unelected Prime Minister without his own national mandate for the highest office in the land.
Whatever the electorate’s verdict in the 13GE, what is becoming increasingly evident is that Barisan Nasional has lost all credibility, legitimacy and moral authority to continue to rule in Malaysia because it is prepared to undermine the Malaysian nation-building process with contradictory lies, deceit and hypocrisy when campaigning to different racial groups.
To the Malays, UMNO leaders and propagandists spread lies and falsehoods as warning that DAP will be the real power if Pakatan Rakyat forms the federal government in the 13GE, that the Malays will lose political power and become “beggars in their own land”, the position of Islam as the official religion of the country would be displaced with Malaysia becoming a Christian state, the Rulers would be abolished and Malaysia become a Republic.
To the Chinese, MCA leaders and propagandists spread lies and falsehoods as warning that PAS will be the real power if Pakatan Rakyat forms the federal government in the 13 GE, hudud laws would be implemented resulting in the further undermining of non-Muslim rights and interests while non-Muslim women would no more be safe as they could be raped by Muslims – all reminiscent of the MCA and Gerakan lies and falsehoods in the 1999 General Election that a vote for DAP was a vote for PAS and an Islamic State where there will be no pork, no alcohol, no temples, no Chinese schools, beautiful women would not be able to find jobs and there would be a chopping of hands and feet.
UMNO leaders and propagandists do not believe in the lies, falsehoods and deceit perpetrated by the MCA among the Chinese, just as MCA leaders and propagandists do not believe in the lies, falsehoods and deceit perpetrated by UMNO among the Malays – but they are not prepared to expose or deny the respective lies and falsehoods as it serves the objective of trying to frighten the different racial groups and stampede them to vote for Barisan Nasional in the 13GE.
This is where Pakatan Rakyat differs from Barisan Nasional. We do not send out different messages to different groups of Malaysians, whether racial, religious or geographical.
Pakatan Rakyat and the component parties of DAP, PKR and PAS have only one and the same message for all Malaysians – to restore justice, freedom, democracy and good governance and to uphold the fundamental features of the Malaysian Constitution.
In contrast, Barisan Nasional continues its divisive and destructive role to perpetuate its “divide and rule” tactics, sowing the politics of hate and conflict with conflicting and contradictory messages for different ethnic and religious groups in the country.
How can the Barisan Nasional reconcile the lies, falsehoods and deceit spread by UMNO among Malays with the lies, falsehoods and deceit spread by MCA among the Chinese?
This is why I say that the Barisan Nasional has lost all credibility, legitimacy and moral authority to continue to rule in Malaysia because it is prepared to undermine Malaysian nation-building with contradictory lies, deceit and hypocrisy when campaigning to different racial groups – which tear into smithereens Najib’s high-falutin but meaningless 1Malaysia slogan and policy!
This is also why Barisan Nasional deserves to be defeated and replaced by Pakatan Rakyat as the new federal government in Putrajaya in the 13GE.