Back to the Drawing Board for Badawi

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must be having sleepless nights after seeing the large number of people that turned up for the BERSIH rally on November 10. Despite the harsh weather, and the presence of police enforcement, thousands of people risked being hurt and arrested, just to be there and to send a strong message to the present establishment. Malaysiakini estimated that the rally attracted at least 40,000 people. The people has "cabar"ed the PM!

The PM has to go back to the drawing board to fix a date for the election. There were earlier speculations that the elections will be held in early 2008. Although the present government would vociferously deny that the "Anwar factor" will not play a role in determining the date for the elections, we all know that this is not true. Barisan National (BN) stands a better chance of winning more seats if Anwar Ibrahim was not in the election equation.

Things are not looking preety good if the elections are held before April 2008 (so that Anwar will not be able to participate). The Lingamgate issue portrays that the judiciary is corrupted. Sivarasa (PKR vice-president) said it so well. In the "Chinese" citizen squatting issue, the investigations were focused on who the person in the video was, and taking action against those who carried out the wrongdoing. Nobody raised a question if the video was authentic, or who the "videographer" was. However, in the Lingamgate case, the investigations seem to focus on the authenticity and source of the video. Why the double-standard? The way the government acted on this issue raises serious doubts on how "clean" Badawi is. When he took the post of PM, he has been hailed as "clean" and "transparent". If he sweeps this serious issue under the carpet, then you can only wonder how corrupt the PM is. If he is corrupt on this big issue, there is no reason why he cannot be corrupt on other issues too. As a result of the Lingamgate issue, the Malaysian people, irrespective of race, has lost confidence in Badawi leading a clean and fair government.

Malaysian Indians are really pissed with the government. The BN has always counted on the Indians for sure votes in past elections. Not this time. The overzealous actions by some state government, and municipalities in breaking down Hindu temples are not going to help. You have to wonder why they carried out such insensitive measures when the elections are just around the corner. It just doesn't make good sense. The Indians have also come to a realization that they have been marginalized for far too long. They, through Hindraf, have brought this issue to the world's attention when they filed a suit against the British Government for leaving them to the mercy of the unfair Barisan government. They are simply fed-up that they, although being Malaysians, are treated as third-class citizens in their own country.

The Malaysian Chinese have not forgotten what took place in last year's UMNO assembly. UMNO tried to do so some damage control this year, but the wound runs too deep. Based on UMNO's antics last year, you cannot wrong the Chinese to believe that the people in UMNO have great dislike for them. Also, the way UPM authorities treated a Chinese student by taking his laptop, and an earlier incident when a group of Malay students behaved like rowdies with the Chinese students in the cafeteria, are not going to help the BN cause.

So, what has Badawi got going for him to call for an early election? Promises of growth corridors everywhere. I believe the legitimate one was in Johor. Then, to make everyone else happy, he promised growth corridors in the north, east cost, and now Sabah. And, of course, we sent one guy to space! Toll hikes and petrol hikes will be put on hold until after the elections. The country is certainly not in an "upbeat" state to call for an elections soon. Time is running out for Badawi as April 2008 is fast approaching, and he can almost feel Anwar breathing down his neck. My mom told me that a hot glass of milk makes sleeping at night easy. You may want to give it a try, Mr. PM.