A Dose of Current Affairs News #1 - The Three By-Elections

We were treated to a unique by-election last night. First the DUN in Batang Ai, right at the edge of Sarawak Indonesia border. It was held by a BN candidate but the competition is not straight forward. Pitted against the Barisan candidate is a former DUN who has switched allegiance to the opposition. He decided not to contest the last election on the Opposition ticket, but I guess the temptation is too strong this time. He did not get through. Barisan won by a bigger majority than last.

The next talking point is the Bukit Selambau DUN. Won initially by an independent candidate in the last election who then joined PKR, he resigned amid some scandal which is still unclear right now. The contest is a record of MIC vs PKR (both Indians candidates), plus a grand total of 13 independents. It is in an area of Malay majority and less than 30% Indians. PKR won with an even bigger majority.

Next stop, Bukit Gantang Parliamentary Seat. The ousted Perak MB tried his luck, and won big time. Now this is a major blow for UMNO, because if the Rakyat is really keen on BN to rule Perak, they certainly did not show it. The media was trying to tie the losses to Najib, but it is far to early to accuse him as being non-effectual. Difficult to put a blame on him who took over for only five days at the back of Tun Abdullah rule of 5 years and 5 months. UMNO have to reexamine themselves here.

However, those were not the news that I am that much interested in. I am more concerned about two things. First, the new Cabinet to be named tomorrow lunchtime. The second, the five Members of the Majlis Tertinggi UMNO that Najib need to select as UMNO President. The UMNO seats will indicate which direction Najib is trying to steer UMNO too. I feel that this is an even more difficult decision to make because for that, he has to please his fan-base! Will Mahyuddin be the next DPM? Or will he select a non-Malay? I don't think that will happen this fast! We shall wait to see how 1Malaysia shapes up. Najib has to do something as since the tsunami of March 8th 2008, the results of the by-elections has not shown that the Rakyat is switching back to support BN, at least not in Semenanjung