Hulu Selangor Elections : BN the loser ??

25 Apr 2010 : BN won the Hulu Selangor by election. Was it a BN victory or a BN loss ? I view it as BN winning the battle but lost the war.

BN choice Kamalanathan won  by a majority of 1,725 ( 3.6 % ) of total votes casted.  BN garnered 24,997 ( 51.8 %) votes, while the opposition Pakatan collected  23,272 ( 48.2 % ) votes. A close fight was expected and the final results clearly show it.

This  former stronghold is now a marginal seat since the 6,176 margin 
won in the 2008 state elections has been depleted three quarters, or by 
4,451 votes, to 1,725 votes.

Our DPM Muhyiddin was so confident that he boldly predicted that BN will win by at least a majority of 6000 votes .

If you have seen our PM Najib's expression on TV that night - he smiled but it was not estastic ; I view his smile as just a formality to show he is "happy". With the BN machinery fully behind campaigning and the generous goodies packages promised , together with Najib himself presenting himself as the "actual candidate" - the results were indeed disastrous.

The results clearly show Pakatan has still strong support.


http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/breaking-views/61308-hulu-selangor--anwar-ibrahim

Pakatan Rakyat  did not only, in nett terms, take all the 1,377
 newly- registered voters, it also grabbed away 1,267 votes which favoured 
the BN in 2008.

 Who are these voters?

 Who are these people who have now turned to the PR? Some are Orang Asli. A 
tiny minority are Malay Malaysians from Felda villages. And the bulk, 
inevitably, are Chinese Malaysians.

http://www.thenutgraph.com/convincing-the-orang-asli-in-hulu-selangor

http://www.thenutgraph.com/comparing-mly-chinese-msian-voters

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/06ana/Article/index_html


Reasons being given that the majority could have been better if the Chinese had voted for BN. I find this to be over-simplistic . Some UMNO leaders  and the vocal Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa had came out condemning the Chinese being ungrateful despite the goodies offered by Najib during the campaigning. RM 3 million was offered as a carrot to the Chinese Primary School if BN win. Read carefully - "if BN wins" - when I read this in the news I was disgusted. This is blatant bribery and money politics played out full screen view. What is our PM Najib's opinion of the Chinese folks there ?? - they can be bought over with just a mere RM3 million carrot ?? I view it is an insult to the Chinese voters. So  was it a surprise when Dr Chua Soi Lek commented that a sizable of MCA members had not supported  BN candidate ?

 BN had always view this seat a traditional BN's stronghold and naturally Hulu Selangor's development and its people problems was not effectively taken care off by MIC's Palanivel when he was MP for the last few terms .   It was a shock that the seat was finally wrested by PKR in Mar 2008 with a low majority. 

 So it was an "all guns out" affair when the by-election was called. Najib had override MIC's choice and chosen his own candidate as groundroot feedback on Palanivel was negative

http://www.thenutgraph.com/bns-nice-guy-offer-for-hs


Further reviews of this by election:

http://www.thenutgraph.com/bn-victory-or-disaster-in-hulu-selangor
http://www.thenutgraph.com/hulu-selangor-assessment-and-strategies