ALOR STAR: Days ahead of the 14th General Election (GE14), Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid shared the bitter experience of losing Kedah to the Pas-led Pakatan Rakyat government in the 2008 general election.
Speaking before a crowd of teachers and Umno members at a hall in Sik, the Education Minister drove a point that Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) members had no other option but to unite to retain its victory after recapturing the state five years ago.
The guest of honour at the gathering was the the BN deputy chairman, who was also the then Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
In his speech, Zahid reminded all the three BN elected reps in Sik to take heed of Mahdzir’s advice as the people would reject leaders who are engaged in internal bickering.
“They have gone through the bitter experience of losing the state to Pas and bounced back to wrest Kedah after five years.
“Unfortunately, it seems the Umno warlords hardly learnt anything from the lesson and once again, they were distracted by the party election which was due after the general election.
“The internal sabotage was still obvious throughout the GE14 campaign period which crippled the machinery, leading to a rejection by voters,” said Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) political analyst Assoc Prof Dr Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani.
He pointed out although Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was seen as a massive threat, the fatal blow came from within the party.
The UUM College of Law, Government and International Studies senior lecturer said despite facing an uphill battle to manage national issues, the party warlords seemed more concerned with safeguarding their survival in the upcoming party election.
“This drove party supporters to stage a massive vote swing like never before, leaving BN with only three state seats and two parliamentary seats.
“In the urban and sub-suburban areas, the Malay votes and the Umno members vote went to Pakatan Harapan while in rural areas, which was supposed to be BN fixed deposits, went to Pas,” he said.
Azizuddin, who had predicted that Kedah would experience a hung parliament after GE14, admitted that even he was surprised by the scale of the swing in votes.
“Even Pas never expected it would be winning 15 state seats and three parliamentary seats by entering the battle without its former partners in the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat,” he said.
Moving on to the new appointment of Menteri Besar, Azizuddin said Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, who led the PH machinery in Kedah would be the favourite choice.
However, he said the decision would also depend on whether Mukhriz would be handed a Federal minister’s post.
“Besides Mukhriz, PH has other options namely former Kedah state assembly opposition leader Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah who had joined PPBM from Pas.
“The other potential candidate is Gurun assemblyman Datuk Johari Abdul, since PKR won eight state seats in Kedah, the biggest among the PH pact,” he said.
The swearing in ceremony of the 13th Kedah Menteri Besar which is scheduled to be held yesterday (Thursday), has been postponed to a new date.
This was confirmed by the Sultan of Kedah’s senior private secretary Datuk Elmi Yusoff through a statement but he did not elaborate on the new date for the ceremony.
