COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
May 20, 2014
It is just supposed to be a parliamentary by-election but the battle for Teluk Intan is now between Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud and Umno, which appears to be rattled by her candidacy on a DAP ticket.
She has apparently struck fear in several Umno leaders, from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil – who have all castigated the political novice for not joining Umno.
Even Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali has thrown his soiled fingers into the fray, urging Gerakan to use a photograph of him together with the 27-year-old DAP candidate as campaign fodder.
But Gerakan has refused to use the photograph as part of the campaign by their president Datuk Mah Siew Keong, the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the May 31 by-election.
So why is Umno so afraid of the young UiTM law graduate, whose mother is an Umno member? Several reasons come to mind.
One. Dyana Sofya’s candidacy on a DAP ticket shows that Umno is not the only party for Malays, apart from PKR or PAS. Particularly when more Malaysians are seeing themselves as Malaysians and not identifying themselves along racial lines.
As more of that happens, Umno and other race-based parties and even groups like Perkasa will have fewer members and cease to exist or even be relevant in Malaysia.
Dr Mahathir, Shahrizat and even Ibrahim can’t allow this to happen because this will be the end of Umno and its dominance in Malaysian politics.
Two. Dr Mahathir is right, the younger generation have forgotten the hard work of the early Umno members and leaders. Perhaps that is because the old Umno was de-registered under his watch.
The Umno today is Umno Baru, a pale shadow of the Umno of Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Abdul Razak Hussein that fought for Malaya’s independence in 1957. The Umno today believes in keeping everything for itself, and only sharing the crumbs with others.
And every day, Umno gives Malaysians a reason to detest them. Every day.
Three. Dyana Sofya’s candidacy shows that there are political parties out there willing to gamble on youth and idealism rather than just rely on the tried and tested or the experienced politician.
There isn’t much of a queue in DAP unlike BN parties where party presidents and top officials are favoured as candidates over younger members. Perhaps it is also the fact that young talent have deserted the BN component parties.
Malaysia’s future belongs to Dyana Sofya’s generation, not the ones who have already tasted power and want to keep it for a while more.
Four. Dyana Sofya’s candidacy shows that young graduates, even from local varsities, such as UiTM, have the intelligence, mettle and leadership skills to strike their own path instead of following what their parents want them to do.
These young Malaysians can think and know they can make the difference. They are hungry and they don’t want to bide their time.
If anything, this mindset is the anti-thesis of a typical BN member who does what he or she is told and waits patiently in line for a shot at political office.
Only some, especially those in the inner circle, make it in BN. That might not be the case in DAP or other PR parties which have had to put up young candidates due to the lack of those willing to run for political office.
If more Malaysians, especially Malays, follow Dyana Sofya’s footsteps, then a party like Umno will come to an untimely end.
Umno cannot allow that to happen and it has to demonise, castigate, heckle and humiliate Dyana Sofya so that others will not follow her footsteps and join parties willing to take a chance on them.
Her success and victory in Teluk Intan will be more than just DAP keeping a seat in parliament or another young Malay becoming a DAP MP. It also means that Umno cannot assert itself as the only platform for the Malays to keep power or run Malaysia.
That is the sad state of Umno these days, that it has to fight a young woman just to keep power. – May 20, 2014.
Mahathir complains always that DAP does not share power with Malays. Now DAP nominates a Malay to stand on its MP ticket, and Mahathir complains that a Malay takes up the offer.
Mahathir is confused, and Malaysia is in deep trouble because this confused mind controlled Malaysia for decades and his confusion has been passed on to UMNO so-called leaders.
Umno run out of new ideas to make comments cos they have been enjoying the wealth of the rakyat for too long. Don t be over confident of winning the teluk intan seat. These BN fellows will use all sort of tactics from money to machinery to win.
“if more Malaysians, especially Malays, follow Dyana Sofya’s footsteps, then a party like Umno will come to an untimely end. ” -it will be back 2 square 1 like 1952 when the great Ong Jaffar who wanted UMNO to open her doors 2 all races. sadly it was not taken n Ong left the party himself.
A threat? O NO!
An object of fantasy, O YES!
Guess many hum sup kaki fr d other side r DROOLING 4 their object of fantasy (SYT)
It has a lot to do with the right pedigree, and Dyana certainly has one which she can be proud of.
“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it” — Albert Einstein.
Another big Q: Do PAS kaki truly, sincerely, n religiously ACCEPT dis SYT as 1 of their own n actively campaign 4 her n DAP in dis by erection?
Teluk Intan folks should b in a kaya raya mood cos veri soon d $$$ giving n throwing machine (1M’sia thingy) will b there (or oredi there?) 2 conduct nightly dinners, lucky draws, ang pau giving sessions, n performances with alcohol + almost-naked soul-shaking twisting dancing gals
Penang Gelugor folks NOT so lucky loh, no official BN candidate – so bad luck, MCA chickened out, otherwise they too could enjoy goodies fr d 1M’sia thingy
Lets face it. By and large malays too are fed-up of umno and their monkey tricks and failed policies.
However, only urban malays are bold enough to go for change by supporting alternative political parties. Perhaps because they are better educated and are way better informed than the folks in the villages.
But that is not good enough for the opposition because malays from the villages form the bulk of the votes in the country.
Now what umno fear is not mass influx of malays into dap. Not at the moment anyway. What umno fear most is the real possibility that sooner or later dap will get that one malay leader who possesses a genuine appeal across the board to everyone in the country. This will lead to a quick meltdown of umno’s support in the kampungs.
And dap, with its unchanging and clear principles, seems way better than umno in attracting decent, well qualified and capable people.
In short, umno fear that dap’s dyana could be that one malay lady who could trigger umno’s final collapse.
In gist, Dyana is not a real threat to the entire UMNO per se.
In contrary, the victory of Dyana Puteri will be used by certain people surrounding Najib to show him the exit much sooner than expected.
They will cite him for his failure in managing all big and small issues ranging from deteriorating security situation in Sabah, unstable Sarawak Assembly, MH 370 mishap, Trengganu crisis sparked by a petty wedding issue, submarine scandals, cow scandals and many others.
Whether you like it or not, this is politics.
Honestly, they are not afraid of Dyana, but what she represents – the world as it really is, the real world, the world that everyone has to join sooner or later. Used to being cocooned, insulated, they really thought they could decide when and how they would join the world and they thought they had more time and more chances.
“Umno of Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Abdul Razak Hussein that fought for Malaya’s independence in 1957.” – greatest malaysian leaders who worked hard for the country.
now its all about race which is bad for the country. lets give full support to dyana