For the likes of RNC, a date awaits for your R-O-E

IF candidates were corporations subjected to the rigours of performance scrutiny, then many defeated politicians who stood as candidates in the just-concluded Malaysian General Elections would be required to justify their Returns on their party’s Investments (ROI). With the dust now somewhat settled, the Barisan Nasional would no doubt be organizing several sessions to explain each failed effort, as in the loss in Lembah Pantai (Nurul Izzah Anwar of PKR beat Raja Nong Chink of BN).

Entering the fray with full confidence in winning this high profile constituency, the outcome would have to be examined and justifications found for its negative Returns On Expenditure (ROE) for the BN.

So much, if not too much energy and money had been expended and invested by all parties in the election effort. Even the most generous benefactor would like some indication that it was not money down the many clogged-again drains in the city (now that in some cases, the promises of some politicians can and will be soon forgotten). Some focused auditing needs to be done to see how well, or badly, all the electioneering money was spent.

For the victors, the plum prize is now a well-appointed seat in parliament. Once plain Abu, Aru or Ah Moi would now be addressed with parliamentary respect and deference as YB (Yang Berhormat). The losers would have to sit out a five-year wait for better luck next time. On the other hand, they will have a head start to draw up their battle plans for GE14.

Oh, have a heart for the losers in this elections. Repercussions, if not recriminations, await. Not unlike the field of criminal forensics where post mortems are done on the dead, politics, politicians and political parties would also be looking hard to go over failed tactics and missed targets. By the end of the process, some of the failures can kiss their political ambitions goodbye no doubt.

To win requires marshalling all available resources and making use of whatever advantages – political, financial, materiel, logistical and personal.

Shaping Positive Publicity

It also calls for corralling compliant publicity to mask shortcomings and paint as pretty a picture as can be.

That of course, as has been shown clearly does not always work. In fact, in urban areas, it has worked to alienate opinion when partisan news sources are viewed with thorough disdain by the public. These sources, if not already abandoned; will soon be. Each entity can choose to remain above the fray by being resolutely neutral and therefore be free of undue influence.

So it was that the dice was loaded and table well-tilted for the BN even before campaigning started. The path to Lembah Pantai was moulded with his elevation to Senatorship after the 2008 general elections which enabled the government to put him in charge of the FT Ministry.

No one can deny that, this nation of 28 million hardly needed a new ministry, specifically built from zero to look after the Federal Territory. Salt was further rubbed into the wounds when the ministry name was conveniently elongated to include its role in taking into account the welfare of urban dwellers; and that focused even more attention to Lembah Pantai. (We used to have a Welfare Ministry to look after EVERYONE’S welfare, and it worked fine then).

Tell me if quite a few educated urbanites residing on the 8th floor of Pantai Panorama would NOT be obsessively opposed to this questionable act of ministerial creation? They would immediately flood cyberspace with their twitter rant of yet another level of self-interested bureaucracy. No doubt they would have vowed to register their protest at the ballot box, which they almost certainly did on Polling Sunday.

With Ministerial backing, RNC could rely on the vast resources of the government at his disposal. At the top of the heap is the Ministry itself replete with Secretary General, his deputies and full retinue of directors, assistant directors, officers, drivers and gardeners that make up the full burdensome complement of bureaucracy.

The Ministry operates from tall glass edifices located in the administrative capital of Putrajaya. Over in Kuala Lumpur there’s Dewan Bandaraya, the local authority with its over-stocked administrative machinery headed by a Mayor, his Deputy and various heads who are ostensibly responsible for anything from public transport to the sanitary facilities that are supposed to halt the proliferation of pests from cockroaches at Yasin Nasi Kandar to scurrying mice in Setapak tomyam stalls.

Ministerial Maneuvers

One can’t run away from making the connection that his remit as minister gave him all the freedom to target programmes that look after the interests of the urban low and middle-income groups in Lembah Pantai. Many are trapped in lowly-paid menial or office jobs. Making a living is possible for them in the city but leading a comfortable life in affordable and comfortable housing is a pipe dream. For most; urban poverty and depredation, bordering on deprivation for some, is a reality. There is much daily hard grind in the city streets that many will City-zens have to live through.

These are the people to whom quick handouts, state pampering and welfare are targeted. Machinery in place, RNC is portrayed in numerous televised give-away sessions duly covered by mainstream media ad nauseum. Every weekend huge tents would be erected in Lembah Pantai where one official feast or state programme would be organized with RNC present. At one stage, he was called the Minister for Lembah Pantai, so dedicated and so focused was his presence in the area. Did the recipients vote? If they did, there must have been not enough of them who did on polling day.

More plausibly, the efforts did not produce the desired results. These act of nannying only serves to put enough other voters off. These are urban middle classes who are greatly distressed and disgusted at seeing how their hard-earned income is squandered. Each tax year their pockets are emptied compulsorily, electronically quickly, on line by the 30 April deadline.

There is another proverb that should be taken to heart – mencurah air ke daun keladi (pouring water on yam leaves). It refers to any futile act that yields no positive results. Each government giveaway is seen as squandering away the nation’s kitty. There was also a public declaration of undertaking built in the BN manifesto trumpeted by the verb Akujanji. Translated it means I Declare; with the party saying the payments would continue; and even increased; provided BN remained in power. Was it wise to make such a conditional promise?

Perhaps, those fed on free handouts were too full in the bellies to actually come out to vote on polling day. Observe the lines at well-heeled Bangsar and Damansara as opposed to Pekan, Muar and Pagoh on Polling Day Sunday. Ignore race - itself a factor that needs dissecting for later – but the BN loss in Lembah Pantai should give party strategists cause to focus their efforts on issues that the nation faces. That way perhaps in five years time, BN would be able to get better bang for its bucks.

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RAZAK Chik who voted in Lembah Pantai on Sunday wants to see how long the blue stain on his fore finger lasts; unlike some who seek issue with the Elections Commission on the staining strength of the indelible ink used for GE13.