Referring to the Kota Belud MP as well as BN Strategic Communication Chief Abdul Rahman Dahlan’s explanation that exorbitant amount of funding was needed to regain back the states they lost in 2008 shows that despite the exorbitant expenses by the Barisan Nasional which is led by UMNO, is no longer relevant to Malaysians as they have lost the popular vote and did not regain back Selangor and Penang since losing both states in 2008. Worst still, BN has lost a few more seats in their stronghold state which is Johor.
When BN was denied two-thirds majority in 2008, this was supposed to be a wakeup call for them to buck up. The rakyat has already shown the message to BN that there is a need to buck up and make sure good governance is practiced. The Internet played a major part in Malaysian politics. There was little the government can hide whenever any misdeeds are committed by any political leader especially from the government. While the Internet and social media continue to evolve, It is unfortunate that instead of reforming the government for the benefit of rakyat, BN decided to concentrate on building their war chest with exorbitant amount of funding only to lose more votes.
With the amount of ‘donations’ transferred into the Prime Minister’s account, many beneficial rakyat centric programs could have been done such as infrastructure improvement, PTPTN subsidy for the less fortunate youths, or empowerment programs to name a few. Instead, BN spend exorbitant amount of money to organise dinners and concerts prior and during election campaigns to win the hearts and minds of voters.
This shows that despite the exorbitant amount of money ‘donated’, nothing could be done to increase the votes for BN. Worst still, they never gained back Penang and Selangor while losing more seats.
This also shows that the Prime Minister with a large amount of funds at his disposal couldn’t even get the right results to ensure a convincing victory for Barisan Nasional. Hence losing the popular vote.
I would like to remind Abdul Rahman Dahlan that parliamentary democracy ensures that there’s check and balance where the opposition also has a major role to play. The nation’s economy is suffering due to Barisan Nasional’s gross mismanagement and not due to accusations by any party on the 1mdb allegations. If a man is entrusted to handle a few billion can’t get the right results, this means that Prime Minister Najib is an incompetent leader to handle the nation’s economy.