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Zaid: Here’s why the experts are wrong about a BN win

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Former minister Zaid Ibrahim says political pundits have failed to understand the mood of voters, especially Malay voters, and the undercurrents in society.

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KUALA LUMPUR: The experts and analysts who have predicted a Barisan Nasional victory in the next general election are all wrong, says former minister Zaid Ibrahim.

In biting remarks, he indicated in his latest blog post that the experts had misread the mood of the people and the undercurrents in society.

Saying they had in effect underestimated Malaysians, especially the Malay voters, Zaid made his own prediction — a win for the opposition in GE14.

“These experts are all wrong. Malays are waiting for the election to come sooner rather than later. There will be such a huge Malay tsunami against the BN that (Prime Minister) Najib (Razak) and company won’t even know what hit them.

“Malay voters do not answer questionnaires. They do not want BN and Umno operators to cause them problems, so they pretend that they support Umno — but change is in the air.

“A huge swing of voters to the opposition is in the offing and we will have a new government after GE14.”

The opposition’s campaign, Zaid said, was not about race or religion but about how much humiliation people could suffer at the hands of those in power.

“The coming GE will be a contest between the needs of ordinary Malaysians against the interests of the greedy and unscrupulous.”

In rallying those who might feel disheartened by the predictions of analysts and experts so far — all of whom have said the BN would win — Zaid said: “Do not feel intimidated by the predictions of experts. The people will win this contest.”

Noting that some experts had even spoken of the possibility that BN might win back its two-thirds majority, Zaid said in no country in the world could leaders accused of taking money from public coffers win re-election.

“Why then are the experts writing off the chances of the opposition in Malaysia?

“The answer is simply that these experts do not think much of Malaysians as a people. They do not believe Malaysians care at all about kleptocracy or about massive corruption.

“They think we are a bunch of buffoons who will be happy to receive some crumbs near polling day and we will return the current leaders to power.”

The former de facto law minister went on to say the predictions showed the experts also did not think much of Malaysian Muslims, who form the majority of voters.

“They think our Islamisation policy is totally superficial and totally ineffective at instilling the right religious values among Muslims here.

“They think Malaysian Muslims do not care about integrity and honesty, and can be easily duped by their leaders with the promise of ‘hudud’ and subsidised trips to Mecca, which will cause them to forget all about injustice and corruption.”

Similarly, he said, the experts appeared to have dismissed the influence of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, thinking that he now only had nuisance-value.

They have misread the signs that civil servants are still a solid voting block for Umno.

“These experts think civil servants do not care if government money is used for the personal luxuries of BN leaders. In other words, they think the Malays who comprise the bulk of the service are a bunch of fools who tolerate being berated for stealing money from the people although politicians are spared such accusations.”

Zaid also said the experts felt that people would not retaliate when their land was taken or when food prices rose to “sky-high” levels.

“These experts think people will accept that this is their fate and will continue to be indebted to the government and will stay grateful forever.”

He ended his blog post by wishing Chinese readers and friends Gong Xi Fa Chai, but not before reminding them that their continued support was necessary for a “more peaceful and prosperous Malaysia”.

 

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