From Mahazalim http://mahazalimtwo.tripod.com

The Mentri Besar Shows His Buttocks

By MGG Pillai

The Sanggang state assembly by-elections on April 1, a straight fight between PAS and National Front, underlines UMNO's nervousness at the Malay divide. Pahang, a PAS-free state until the last general elections, is suddenly vulnerable. Pahang's UMNO divisional elections is postponed until after the by-elections. UMNO, more than the National Front, wants the Sanggang polls to decisively resist PAS encroachment in Pahang. PAS had never more one or two state assembly seats in the state and no member of parliament yet; but in the November 1999 general elections, it rocked the UMNO hold on the Malay ground to its foundations, making Pahang yet another state, like Kedah, that has become marginal.

The behind-the-scenes discussions on the fate of the Gentings casino is to ensure PAS would not have control over, did over Petronas revenues in Trengganu. should it form the state government in a future general election. UMNO in Western Pahang, which embraces Mentakab (in which Sanggang is), faces erosion to PAS. I was surprised to see in the PAS ranks, at a kenduri in a kampong in Bentong two months ago, of the number of UMNO stalwarts who had switched to PAS.

The PAS candidate in the Sanggang by-election is Dato' Hishamuddin Yahya, a 60-year-old lawyer, a two-term National Front MP for Maran, a former UMNO, a member of the PAS central committee. He was born in Sanggang, a local boy whose former law partner is the federal cabinet minister, Dato' Kadir Sheikh Fadhir. The National Front (and UMNO) candidate is a religious official and Mentakab UMNO division committee member, Redzwan Harun, 49. In this remarkable reversal of roles, PAS fields a professional and UMNO a religious affairs official. UMNO and the National Front takes the religious route when selecting candidates for elections and PAS the professional, indicating nervousness in one and confidence in the other.

At the nomination centre yesterday (21 March 00), the deputy prime minister and National Front and Pahang bigwigs were around to rally the boys around in an area where PAS encroachments are more persistent than in any other part of the country: many UMNO members, like Dato' Hishamuddin, are now in PAS. The mentri besar of Pahang, Dato' Seri Adnan Yaakob, who made himself an election issue by turning his buttocks towards the PAS candidate and his entourage; during the November general elections, he beat up a former UMNO member who had joined PAS in frustration. (I understand photographs of the incident could well be around.)

This by-election pits UMNO and PAS against each other, backed by the non-Malay parties they side with. The DAP campaigns for PAS, to persuade the more than 30 per cent Chinese voters to vote for Dato' Hishamuddin. Indeed, the 3,000 supporters who accompanied Dato' Hishamuddin to the nomination centre was the DAP national chairman, Mr Lim Kit Siang. The beginnings of an opposition front led by PAS takes root, with Mr Lim, despite his faults, more believable than the MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik. This by-election has no issues but one: whether a reasonable PAS or an Islamicized UMNO would attract voters.. PAS is comfortable with its Islamic credentials, while UMNO has to re-iterate its at every possible opportunity, and proves it be denying non-Muslims permission to build their temples and churches even after approving them. As a general rule, the National Front romps home in by-elections. But this one, so soon after the general elections, in a seat PAS made marginal, is not so clear cut. The by-elections is called after Dato' Abdullah Kia died three months after being returned in the general elections. The edge is with the National Front on April 1. But then so it was in Trengganu last November 29.