After Penanti, yet another by-election?

Hamdan Ibrahim


I refer to Malaysiakini report


BN may not contest Penati says PM.To fight or not to fight. For the first time in our country's history, Umno has deemed it fit to consider not entering the ring for the vacant Penati seat as they will be the underdog against their PKR opponent. Surely after losing four straight by-elections in the peninsula, BN cannot afford to lose another by-election in Penati which is a PKR stronghold as the seat is under Permatang Pauh which is held by the de facto Pakatan Rakyat supremo, Anwar Ibrahim. It will be a suicidal attempt by the Umno candidate to go into the lion's den against their PKR opponent as the BN candidate will surely lose. The tide against the present government still remains unabated as the last four by-elections have shown.



Najib Razak, the newly-minted prime minister, must have read the sentiment on the ground correctly when he mentioned that BN might boycott the coming by-election in Penanti as it will be a waste of public funds for them to go ahead and contest. But he was less truthful when he says that by-elections should only be held due to the death or bankruptcy of the incumbents which render the seats vacant under the law. If BN had a chance of winning in the opposition stronghold of Penati, they will surely have their candidate fight for the seat. Our parliamentary law says when the incumbent lawmakers in the state assembly or parliament resign from office on their own free will, by-elections should be held within sixty days and the incumbents are barred from re-contesting the same seat for a period of two years. Unlike the US where when senators or congressmen resign or die in office, there won't be another by-election but their seats will be filled by the party they represented.



Maybe our election laws should be changed to follow the US system to stop the wastage of public funds in holding by-elections in the future. Surely under normal circumstances, with the government machinery at its disposal and election goodies that can be thrown at voters, the present government would be more than willing to take part in any by-election in order to increase their majority in the state assemblies or Parliament. Prior to the 2008 general elections, BN candidates normally won any by-election against their opposition rivals. But that was before as circumstances have changed in the opposition's favour as BN seems to have lost the people's support, losing four by-elections straight in the row in the past six months.PKR, the new kid on the block, seems to have many internal problems as compared to their Pakatan partners DAP and PAS.



Since winning big in the last general elections, their lawmakers have not been up to mark as one seat after another became vacant.Prior to that, two of their assembly persons from Perak were charged with corrupt practices and were subsequently charged in court for their abuse of power. Another bigwig in Penang had to leave his deputy chief minister's post due to inept leadership and he is also involved in a controversy which might land him in court if the MACC decides to charge him for graft. If Anwar Ibrahim and PKR are not careful and other lawmakers from the party resign due to personal reasons, the public might think that their elected representatives are not up to mark and the tide might turn against them. By-elections should be held for good reasons and not because the incumbents are beset with personal problems which can affect their work in their constituency.



As it is, right now, the people would rather have their lawmakers look into the state of the economy rather than having by-elections here and there which seem to be becoming a regular event.PKR cannot expect the people's support for them remain the same if dirty laundry among their party members are exposed to the public every now and then. PKR members, especially their law- makers, should have the discipline like their DAP and PAS counterparts.



Hopefully, the by-election at Penanti will be the last by-election due to the resignation of the incumbent for personal reasons. By-election fatigue seems to have crept in amongst the public who are more worried about their thinning wallets and do not want to be distracted by too many by-elections.