On the 23rd September 2009, I tweeted that Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad should announce his willingness not to contest in the Bagan Pinang by election. This would see to it that his magnanimity ultimately defines the man. By taking the initiative and volunteering himself out of the candidacy, he will portray himself as an Umno leader not so hard-up with power; a trait which many perceive as extinct in the recent years.
As the top man in Telok Kemang division, he must lead by example and be cognisant of his colourful yet tainted past. He was found guilty of money politics and was suspended from being an Umno member for 3 years.Yes sure, he had done his time. He had lost his vice-presidency. He lost the incumbency of being the head honcho in Negeri Sembilan. His reputation suffered. He lost friends, etcetera… etcetera.
Now he feels that this by election will be the vehicle for his comeback. Many think that should he win this by-election (and there is indeed a strong undercurrent that BN can win this particular one), it will be some sort of a redemption for this feisty man who had been the Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan for 22 years (1982 to 2004).
If he is aware of all the baggage that comes with his track records, he would intelligently opt for the aforementioned strategy. He should even announce that he will work tirelessly to ensure that whoever is the candidate of this by-election would win it handsomely.
But this is not to be.
Apparently, the Telok Kemang Umno Wanita Chief and the Division leader of Seremban chipped in their views and supported Isa Samad’s candidacy.
It seems that all of his followers want him to contest in this by-election. They don’t seem to get it. On the very same day, the Telok Kemang Youth Head even said:
“I don’t see how Isa’s record can be a liability to Umno and the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the Bagan Pinang by-election”.
Isa Samad will be a liability for BN because even IF he wins Bagan Pinang, it will be a pyrrhic victory due to the fact that BN nationwide has to contend with several allegations:
1) Umno still have to rely on a tainted leader,
2) Talent pool in Umno is non-existent,
3) Umno is not serious in purging bad apples, and
4) Umno has not changed its ways.
And who will take the most hit? Indeed, your very own Umno President.
Yes, no doubt that Isa Samad has contributed a lot to the development of Negeri Sembilan. Nobody can deny this. Negeri Sembilan was one of the fastest growing state back in the 90’s. Of course, many people can see that Isa Samad is one of the most faithful member in Umno where eventhough after he was caught and suspended, he is still loyal to the party. Even when BN was bashed left, right and centre, he remains a loyalist.
Unlike some who quickly headed towards the exit door to comfortably sleep with the enemy as soon as things did not go their way, Isa Samad’s attitude should be made an example to all BN members.
Too bad he chose not to pursue the logical next course of action, which is to publicly abstain himself from being nominated. As Tun Dr Mahathir said it last weekend:
“Isa would endear himself to all”.
Not just to the people in Bagan Pinang, but all over the country. So forget what the Youth Head was talking. Forget what the Wanita Chief had said.
They must listen to the views of the common people.
One regular commentator by the name Shah had this to say regarding this issue:
Again not sure where to place my disgust. Just a short note on the Bagan Pinang by-elections. With members insisting on nominating Isa Samad and Isa Samad (Ex MB AND Minister) shamelessly agreeing, I have nothing much to say except that these are such people that brings the downfall of UMNO and BN. After all that have happened, after all that has been said they remain clueless. Continuing to show their arrogance and complete disregard for the people.
Unless a miracle happen and that the leadership being sensitive to the people do not agree to nominating Isa Samad (which will result in the members that want Isa to probably sabotage the by-elections) it will be RIP UMNO and BN.
If it is another repeat of the Permatang Pasir fiasco I am aghast and …………. (speechless)……………
Ironically, Isa Samad has the support from one person who had shamelessly sleeping with the enemy. Zaid Ibrahim in his blog article, literally gave his support for Isa Samad to contest!
Zaid who is now representing a party which is against all the alleged corrupt practices in Umno had actually given his unequivocal support for Isa despite the latter’s tainted past.
I guess birds of a feather flock together.
Zaid made fun of certain factions in Umno who are trying to tell the leadership not to nominate Isa Samad as the candidate and instead, he is asking the Umno leadership to respect the wishes of the voters in Bagan Pinang.
He set aside all the money politics in Umno and brushed it off as a non issue. Of course, being one who was suspended by Umno for money politics as well, Zaid has no qualms in seeing Isa Samad constesting in this by-election. Is he preparing the justification of his own candidacy in the next general election too?
How hypocritical for him to chide Umno for money politics but at the same time, trying to absolve Isa Samad for the same offence.
When there are Umno members desperately trying hard to cleanse Umno from corruptive elements, here we have a member of the opposition whitewashing an Umno leader of money politics. No wonder the opposition finds it hard to identify the best candidate for the role of their Prime Minister.
Now, how could BN win Bagan Pinang?
If Isa Samad wants to find redemption, he should throw his support behind the candidate that he had helped to identify in order to gain maximum firepower.
As the divisional leader of Telok Kemang, it is incumbent upon him to ensure the victory of Bagan Pinang by-election no matter who the candidate is. If he is as strong as his supporters had said, if he has the support of the people in Bagan Pinang, then it should be no problem for him to help attain this victory.
It is his KPI as the Ketua Bahagian Umno Telok Kemang to deliver the victory. If he is not the candidate, and BN could still win this, then Umno and BN in its entirety can say that regardless who the candidate is, BN still have the support from the people. The Permatang Pasir debacle involving Rohaizat Othman can be construed as the failure of the candidate; not the party.
Umno should realise that it can get stronger if they make this simple analysis:
Could BN win the Permatang Pasir by-election even if it was not Rohaizat being the contestant? Why not?
If it still no, then no matter who the candidate for several by elections to come, BN can never win anything.
Remember, Isa Samad can only get his redemption if he helps in winning the Bagan Pinang by-election; not as a candidate, but as the force behind it. He can be the bigger man in this, or he can be small by balking and sabotaging the by-election should he not be selected as the candidate.
The choice is his and the Umno members in Telok Kemang.
jebatmustdie 
salam JMD, selamat hari raya.
this is a very serious problem. why? if isa be stopped from becoming a candidate, he will back stab whoever got elected by BN to run for bagan pinang. in the end, BN will lose again. i think the solution would be –
1) najib has to ensure isa will not interrupt
20 full support from umno members.
if isa interrupt, more serious action will be taken against him.
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Sigh,,,
Is BN running out of capable men and women?
Come on Mr Isa, the fate of the party is at stake now. Or should i say the fate of the country?
Oppositions are taking this opportunity to tarnish the BN image further should you be name as the candidate.
Learn to live and let go. Isa should instead rally behind the candidate and im sure Bagan Pinang will win by massive majority, numbers that will show DSAI,and his evil and greedy allies that BN is still a party close at heart to Malaysians regardless or race,language or religion.
To the President of Umno, you too must make a wise choice now. Remember, BN are not short of outstanding, “clean” candidate and do not risk anything at this fragile moment by fielding someone whom the rakyat oppose and disagree. BN has made many fatal mistakes which can be avoided in the previous by elections and BN cant afford another mistake this time round.
To Mr Isa, you are not forgotten by the people.You have an excellent track record but for the sake of the country at this very moment, please rally your support for another candidate and im sure your popularity will rise even further.
Best regards
FHM
To JMD, keep all those exciting posts coming…and on a regular basis pls…haha…thks.
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Dear JMD
It is very, very difficult to get Tan Sri and his supporters to be sympathetic towards UMNO just like that. Lately there were others who were found guilty of money politics. Some have been let off lightly. Why? The public wants to know. Is it double standard? Is it a conspiracy?Or is Tan Sri disposable?
It is nice not to take anyone for granted. Tan Sri may want to field himself as independant candidate, can’t he? then what?
What a predicament UMNO get itself into. I believe this is the remanant of some of the rubbish left behind by the previous PM.
Every UMNO member is valuable. Same rule must apply to every member.
What is next? Only God knows
mohamed
mohamed
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bagan Pinang UMNO memebrs are hungry as ISa has not been able to feed them.
Under ISA, they had kenduri every blooming day, and they want more of these.
UMNO and ketuanan/taliban types has no remorse over how they earn a living nor how they administer the nation, as long as their stomachs are well fed.
And they will create barriers to protect their own selfish interest, at the expense of the nation and all communities.
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jebat was an honorouble man. he stood for righteousness. When his colleague was sacrificed by the leader, he knew what he had to do.
In UMNO, only those guys who gives money and contracts away are honoured. those who stand for justice and righteousness are ignored. Trouble is, nobody has the guts to act like Jebat nowadays. No voice for the oppressed.
while Malaysia promote their health hospitality industries, children of poor families are forced to beg in the newspapers to help pay hospital charges.
I am sure, all our deeds are recorded, and in the next life, we will all have to answer on why these happenend in malaysia.
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hang Tuah, on the other hand, resembles ISA. who cares if his friend avenged him. As far as he is concern, protecting the corrupt tyrannical dictatorship will bring a significant amount of reward. His buddy had to be sacrificed.
That same mentality persist till today.
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Bro Jebat. A good piece. A sophisticated presentation of views, but perhaps a tad naive… for once!
At stake here is not ‘just’ the national perception towards UMNO. At stake here is a 3 seat majority UMNO has in the state assembly. At stake is the security of the state government of Negeri Sembilan.
Who is the best candidate for UMNO in Bagan Pinang in a national context? A fresh face backed by Isa perhaps? But a victory for UMNO without Isa would still be pyrrhic in a national context; fine, BN would have won in a safe seat with a new candidate, however, Icons of Corruption remain in seats of power, not just in UMNO but in BN governments! National perception towards UMNO and BN would shift imperceptably… marginally at best!
Who is the best candidate to secure Bagan Pinang and the security of the BN government in Negeri Sembilan? Isa. He is the lowest risk candidate in the local context… and this has to be the priority here.
Of course, it helps that I think he was relatively ‘innocent’ and was toppled by a conspiracy involving said Icons of Corruption. A shame that time to clear his name was wasted prior to this…
JMD : Thank you for the comment. A very good perspective on things indeed. Without Isa Samad but a BN win – imperceptible but positive shift of perception, status quo in state assembly. With Isa Samad and a BN win – status quo in state assembly, bigger negative shift of perception. Have a good Syawal ya.
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“Ironically, Isa Samad has the support from one person who had shamelessly sleeping with the enemy. Zaid Ibrahim in his blog article, literally gave his support for Isa Samad to contest!”
“Say “No” to ISA” is normal majority Pakatan tagline.. I wonder if this Isa is included in the package or not…
~ OnDaStreet
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my father said mahathir want to test power on this election
as corrupted isa may be…..he is people champion of pd….it is for a fact that the whole umno pd people would elect him
unlike other area whereby…if u are umno members and not elected…u would boycott the election and produce unstability.
so outsiders who disgust with isa?…u are not local so u dont know…ur knowledge of him…is internet per se
theory and practicality is not the same……politic is grey area afterall
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Bro, I have just uploaded my post on this matter. My view begins with the assumption that, without Isa Samad, BN would lose anyway at Bagan Pinang. There are just too many reasons for BN to lose there. And in the end, we could not afford to lose in the now, making the continued loss of image (which can’t be too much worse) from an Isa-led win relatively palatable in real-politik. Ta!
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JEBAT MUST DIE,
ORG LAIN PUN RASUAH JUGAK… TAPI KENAPA TOK ISA SAHAJA YG KENA TERUK??? ADA UDANG BESAR SEBALIK BATU KE???
TAHUN 200O TOK ISA KALAH…PERSIAPAN TAK CUKUP… ADA ORANG YG KIPAS PAKAI DUIT LEBIH KUAT KETIKA ITU… TIPULAH KALAU U KATA PEMILIHAN TAHUN 2000 TU BERSIH… U SENDIRI PUN TAHU…
TAHUN 2004 DIA BELAJAR DARI KESILAPAN… DIA BUAT PERSIAPAN SEBAIK MUNGKIN… MENGIKUT CONTOH YG SEBELUMNYA… ADA YG MENANG TAHUN 2000 TU PUN BUKAN BUAT APA KEJA SANGAT… TOK ISA BERUSAHA KERAS…
LEPAS DIA MENANG ERA TDM BERAKHIR… ATAS NAMA NAK HAPUS KAN RASUAH.. PAK DOLAH JADIKAN DIA KAMBING HITAM… MUNGKIN JUGA SATU KONSPIRASI DARI ORG YG KALAH MASA PEMILIHAN 2004…. TUHAN JEA YG TAHU… / KONPIRASI KJ NGAN YAM TUAN TERDAHULU???
SAYA ORG NEGRI… SAYA HIDUP DIZAMAN PEMERINTAHANNYA… SAMA SEPERTI JEBAT HIDUP DIBAWAH ZAMAN TUN DR MAHATHIR…
PILIHANRAYA ADUN ADALAH SATU PERKARA MIKRO… BUKAN MAKRO SEPERTI PARLIMEN… KEHENDAK RAKYAT SETEMPAT HARUS DIUTAMAKAN…. ZAHIRNYA MEMANG DIA TELAH DISABITKAN KESALAHAN RASUAH TU…. TAPI REALITINYA RAMAI RAKYAT SETEMPAT YG TAK DAPAT MENERIMA PENSABITAN KESALAHAN TERSEBUT KEATASNYA SAHAJA YG MANA SECARA TIDAK LANGSUNG MEMPERKECILKAN HAK MEREKA SEBAGAI PENGUNDI….
SEBAGAI RAKYAT NEGRI SEMBILAN, KETIDAKADILAN TELAH BERLAKU… TAPI SUARA RAKYAT TIDAK DIENDAHKAN… DAN YG PALING SEDIH BERLAKU DLM UMNO SENDIRI ATAS SEBAB-SEBAB PRIBADI ORG TERTENTU… NAMUN AMAT MENGKAGUMKAN KESABARANNYA DALAM MENEMPUH UJIAN YG DIHADAPI… MASIH SETIA BERSAMA UMNO TANPA SEBARANG KATA NISTA PADA PUCUK PIMPINAN…
TOK ISA TELAH MENJALANI HUKUMANNYA DENGAN REDA… RAKYAT SETEMPAT MEMANDANG & MENILAI… MEREKA MEMBUAT KEPUTUSAN UTK MEMILIH CALUN MEREKA SENDIRI. MEREKA SENDIRI PUN TAHU SIAPA SEBENAR YG BAPAK SEGALA RASUAH… DAN MEREKA PERCAYA TOK ISA AKAN BEKERJA UTK MEREKA….
BAGILAH TOK ISA PELUANG & JANGAN SENGAJA DITELANJANGKAN AIB ORANG YG TELAH MENJALANKAN HUKUMAN…. MELAINKAN ANDA SENDIRI MEMPUNYAI UDANG KARA BESAR SEBALIK BATU !!!!!!!!
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With people like Sputjam, Johnny, and Malay must die, the Malays cant afford to not vote anyone from UMNO. Yes the Malays want all the wealth to be shared fairly with other races. But the non Malays are making it hard for the Malays to share in the future.
Yes we want a fair government. We want a clean government.
But by choosing the current opposition, it is just like choosing an even worse government. A government full of ex-convicts? I dont think so.
Damn it. Most liberal Malays nowadays dont mind being called racist looking at the political situation nowadays. Seeing the true colors of many non-Malays nowadays, including the politicians in the current government, the Malays have no choice but to stick together like old times when we yelled merdeka to survive and their own land.
What PRU12 teach the Malays. Even after 50 years of independence, you still cant trust your ‘friends’. Setia-kawan my ass.
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Malays used to control paddy farming in the old days. After so many years of UMNO rule, malay paddy farmers now lease their land to Thais. And many are still penniless.
Voting for UMNo will give malays an illusion that they are progressing. But in reality, they are moving backwards relative to other the nations in the ASIA.
The failure is due to malays not willing to learn from non-malays when it comes to building a good education system. Presently our education system is crap. Producing crappy doctors, nurses, engineers etc. who upon graduation is not able to find work without further intervention from the govenrment.
Why is it the cream of malay students are placed in sekolah sains mara, where they then proceed to study in a different foreign syllabus altogether? It only shows even the government know that our education system is full of shit and our examination syndicate is not recognised in many foreign countries.
The worse part is, by giving places in sekolah sains mara, the poor mala parents are then burdened with hostel fees, foreign exam fees, etc. So just think again if UMNO is actually helping the malays, or bribing the malays to vote for them in order for UMNO elites to help themselves.
There is no short cut to success. It can only be acheive by hard work and good planning by the experience. UMNO’s strategy does not involve any of these.
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sputjam,
Don’t you ever read news? If our normal school is such a crap compared to any of boarding school, why do we have straight As students from normal schools?
And owh.. if really our schools are really that crappy.. where did you get your education from? Do ALL your schoolmates turned out to be as bad as you describe?
If really our doctors, nurses and engineers are really that crappy, I would say that the doctor friends that I know from my years in Ireland ( be it whatever race they may be) are also crap.. even when they got hired by Irish hospitals… which I don’t even recall they getting sued for such poor services!!!!
p/s: the doctors in Ireland.. er, they went thru our national education system too…
~ OnDaStreet
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Ah, you mean.. anything done by the government for the Malays are wrong. Give them something – to create illusion of progression or whatever. Dont give them anything – government is careless. Regardless, any form of government help for the Malays are wrong.
Of course there is no short cut to success. But to achieve success, we also need opportunities. Opportunities are given by the government for those hard working and intelligent Malays.
Voting for UMNO is to give illusion? What are you rambling about?. Its a fact that under UMNO for 50yrs the malays have progressed. From a mere farmers and ‘nelayans’ family into nowadays professionals. Im talking about the middle class people.
If the BN government and (under UMNO leadership for the Malays) have been giving just ‘illusions’ of progression, there wouldn’t be the middle class malays like we have now!. The richer will be richer and the poorer would be poorer. But now, as we can see, we have the poor are getting richer, and the rich also are getting richer. And we are still in the process to make the poor – less poor. But some people, they dont want the poor (which makes up of a certain race) to be richer and hence, is doing anything to stop the progression. Including twisting the facts here and there!
Boy, You are so delusional!
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