There was a collective shaking of heads in the country when it was formally announced that Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad is the Barisan Nasional candidate for the Bagan Pinang by-election in Negri Sembilan on 11th October 2009.
Both the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir and another Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh had spoken out publicly to warn of the adverse implications and larger repercussions of nominating a person who had been found guilty of money politics by his own political party, but these objections and warnings had been disregarded.
Having lost in all the previous seven by-elections in Peninsular Malaysia after the March 8 general elections last year, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Umno leadership are so desperate for a by-election victory that they are prepared to overlook the larger and adverse implications of Isa’s candidature so long they can be assured not only of a by-election victory in Bagan Pinang but a convincing one.
Continue reading “Bagan Pinang by-election – a contest between Malaysia’s political past and the future”