Isa Samad's win in Bagan Pinang heralds a black day for democracy in Malaysia

“For the good of the party, the dignity of the Malay community it claims to represent and for the sake of the nationwide reform in governance and politics that we must undergo, it would be better if Umno lost today, and used the loss to begin internal reform,”

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah

BREAKING NEWS

OFFICIAL! BN/Umno has won the Bagan Pinang by-election, steamrolling over arch rival PAS with a majority that was more than double the margin it won by in 2008. Final results showed Umno's Isa Abdul Samad polled 8,013 votes versus 2,578 by PAS's Zulkefly Omar for a majority of 5,435 votes. This is more than double the previous majority of 2,333 votes. There were 222 spoilt votes.Unofficial turnout was at 81.65% or 11,157 votes.

This outcome is indeed a black day for Malaysian democracy. What the voters have done in Bagan Pinang is to tell the world that we, Malaysians, have no qualms in voting in a corrupt politician such as Isa Samad. What makes everyone sick is the fact that the voters of Bagan Pinang have fallen to the lies, deception and worst of all, the seduction of BN/Umno's 'gifts' to the voters. It appears we have around 8,000 Judas' in Bagan Pinang.

Most of the Bagan Pinang folk have heard of Isa Samad's corruption and vote-buying record and how he was sacked as Umno's vice-president in the party’s 2004 election. But apparently they do not mind as they also know him from his days – 22 whole years in fact – as the mentri besar of Negeri Sembilan. He is also the Teluk Kemang Umno division chief and almost everyone in the area has met him before in one way or another.

The Chinese voters with their 'tidak apa' attitude were a real let down. The Chinese turnout was very low. The community, especially the womenfolk, were scared off by the continuous violence and intimidation attributed to BN/Umno.

For the Indian voters who voted BN/Umno, you will soon learn the hard way what happens when the mongoose meets the cobra. You folks have fallen to the spin of Umno and their agents MIC and Makkal Sakti Party and all those who told you not to vote PR or even boycott the by election. You will reap what you sow. Your ignorance about Kampung Buah Pala was played to the maximum by BN/Umno.

Another factor that helped Isa Samad was the unusually large number of military-based postal voters in the constituency. At 4,604, they form about 34 percent of the electorate of 13,664 voters. According to Malaysian Mirror, Balloting closed on Sunday with a weak turnout that was compensated by the high attendance of the postal voters, estimated at more than 95 percent. The postal voters had cast their ballots on Thursday and Friday. Only 'normal’ voters numbering 9,060 were due to cast their ballots on Sunday. But their attendance was lackluster and this was blamed on wet weather in the morning, election fatigue but mostly on intimidation and violence. Indeed throughout the day, there were reports of scuffles that had to be quelled by the police and FRU personnel.