Event of the month

THE Bagan Pinang by election in Negeri Sembilan will be the main event of the month.
Veteran and experienced politician, Tan Sri Mohd. Isa Abdul Samad (picture) is making a comeback. He will be facing PAS candidate, Zulkefly Mohamad Omar in a 'one-to-one' fight. Is Isa going to win? I think, it's going to be a 50-50 chances. My fellow friends in the constituency told me that it's going to be a tough affair. Both have followers and the winner will mostly be decided by young voters. According to an old friend there, UMNO seems to neglect the interest of the youngsters lately. He said youngsters doesn't care what the rulling party are doing for the country, but the trend now is they (youngsters) need attention. (I don't know what type of attention these youngsters needed...). Opposition are tackling the youngsters well because they felt that at the end of the day, these are the group who will decide the winner. Maybe, 'orang lama' in the constituency will go for UMNO, but the population of the 'orang lama' votters has been decreasing. Youngsters (mostly young votters) are increasing and they can anytime switch their votes to the candidate they want to. Bared in mind, youngsters mind are unpredictable. Today they said this, tomorrow, they will said that. So, those concerned (especially UMNO) need to find ways to influence these group to be loyal because they are the future votters. Good example is that, one 'mat rempit' will say: I don't want to go for street racing anymore. But two days later, he changed his mind and started doing it again. These are common attitude amongst our youngsters now. They are also votters and they can always do the same thing when they turned up to cast their votes. Did UMNO ever think of these - bringing youngsters together and installed them with the right attitude to be loyal to the party.

Recenltly, when I was in Port Dickson, I stopped at a food stall near the Petronas Petrol Station there. I have a quick teh tarik with my friends accompanied with few pieces of keropok lekor. There's a group of youngsters on the next table (about 15 of them). One of their conversations caught my attention and i put on my ears. They said: "Apa lah Malaysia ni, asyik ada pilihan raya kecil sahaja. Tapi best juga kita boleh buat kerja part time pasang poster. Sapa bagi gaji lebih kita undi dia lah...(their conversation sound more interesting and I keep listening). They continued: "Kau sudah mendaftar tak? (the A guy asked his fellow friends). His friends replied: Kita semua sudah mendaftar lah....Kita undi lah orang yang bagi kita kerja pasang poster." Then one guy 'mencelah': "Dulu pun aku pasang poster untuk BN, tapi 'towkay' kita orang tipu lah. Janji nak bagi 25 ringgit, tapi lepas tu dia bagi kita orang 10 ringgit. 'Towkay' tu kata, BN dah potong peruntukan awal untuk gaji. BN kah 'towkay' yang potong, said another guy. The guy said he don't know and during the votting day he said, they gave their votes to the opposition. It's really sound interesting and i was thinking either the BN leaders are aware of these ' dirty play' by the person they entrusted to do the job. Then we left Port Dickson. On our way back to Kuala Lumpur, i told my firend, even a group of 'Mat rempit' also talked about politic when it comes to election. They also aware about 'dirty play' by third parties entrusted by BN candidates to do a small job. I feel that these kind of 'dirty play' by 'orang kanan' BN candidates can also spoilt the reputation of the candidates and it will lead to a defeat.
If these happened again in Bagan Pinang by election, Isa can say good bye to his political career. Isa need to monitor the activities of his 'orang kanan' througout the campaining period. Wrong move will spoilt the whole party. If isa win, that mean there's room for UMNO to regain trust from the people. If Isa lost, its time to do rebranding. Past by election saw all the BN candidates failed. Bagan Pinang?....just wait and see...