Why BN will find it really hard to regain Kelantan.

 

Kelantan has been ruled by PAS for a long time now and UMNOists (couldn’t find a better word) may say that in that time the PAS and the PR has had a lot of time to spread their “lies” so much so that it has become harder for the people of Kelantan to see the “truth”. This is really a misguided perspective because one could just as easily that BN is doing the same thing in its areas and both side will be right because both sides are made up of politicians. When it comes to power and influence, concepts like “truth” are expendable to politicians. For further explanation of this I would recommend you have a read of the Institute of General Semantics website. Anyway, that is not why I am writing this.

When I was in Kelantan, I hear the PAS people say that they have been able to hold to power because they have been able to provide a better government and the people can see this. And true enough, if you spend some time living among the people, watching how things flow in KB especially, you will find that things have a somewhat “kinder” feel to it there. Of course, when you start dealing with the bureaucrats and business people over there, you will find that just scratch the surface and you will reveal a significantly different beast under the calm facade.

So the BN, want to win back Kelantan. They say that they want to bring progress to Kelantan. They say that they want Kelantan to enjoy the same benefits from economic and infrastructural development as enjoyed by states under their rule. This is the basic rhetoric repeated again and again each time there are elections. What strikes me is that they have consistently lost with this rhetoric, has it not occurred to them to change it for another that works? Then question then, what would work? This is up to the politicians to figure out.

What I would like to share here is a particular perspective on why BN keeps losing in Kelantan that I distilled from listening to my younger friends and relatives in Kelantan when I was there recently.

Imagine you are a young man or women growing up in Kelantan, in one of the small towns or villages perhaps. You will find that life is slower, more sedate and friendlier than KL or JB or Ipoh but when you are young you want excitement. You want challenges. You want things to enjoy, music to dance to, to be able to sing away your stress at the local karaoke centre till the wee hours of the morning. In Kelantan, generally cannot do that because those places are very hard to come by, if they even exist at all. You may want to show off your figure in a mini dress. You may want to put on makeup and paint the town red. All this is very hard to do in Kelantan. You may be able to do some of them but not too openly. You may be able to go across the border but that has problems of its own.

SO there you are waiting for your SPM or STPM results to come itching to leave the place for a few years to try your luck in the west coast where all that is possible. Then along comes these BN people saying that you will not have to leave for KL because they will bring ‘progress’ to your hometown. This means that you will be moving from school to work and still not be able to do all those things I mentioned above because the community that frowned on them then will still be there to frown (or worse) upon you now. Thus it is not in your interest for them to win. So when you can vote you will try to make sure that your younger brothers and sisters will have the opportunity to leave Kelantan to find jobs elsewhere, and enjoy the fringe benefits too.

Then there are those who have been to KL, who has had innumerable pre-marital relationships with members of the opposite (or even the same) sex, who have imbibed unremembered gallons of intoxicating beverages and much more. You feel your age creeping up on you and you feel that your own mortality is beginning to feel real. You want to leave these accursed places and retire somewhere peaceful where you can enjoy the company of God-fearing people while you repent your ways and ask God for forgiveness for all your trespasses. You go home to somewhere in Kelantan – the “Serambi Mekah” – where, if you live in KB, you will be able to listen to Tok Guru’s wisdom every so often. So, you settle to find peace with your Maker and atone for all the evil that you have done. Then along comes the BN politicians saying that they want to bring progress to your town or villages. You have seen what this progress means, you have been there. Images of outsiders moving in, karaoke bars, nightclubs (supposedly for the foreigners but who are we kidding? ), scantily clad women walking around all over the place distracting your from your wirid, exclusive condominiums with guards where you are tempted to buy a unit and have your mistress, who will be one of these scantily clad young women (or handsomely dressed young man), stay there. Would this not infuriate you? You are aiming for the after-life and they are threatening to bring so many temptations right to your doorstep. You would do the only logical thing: vote against them so that they do not win and thus keep the temptations away for a few years longer.

I would agree that this may apply to a limited number of individuals. The majority (or so says the speakers) want progress, but an election can be won even by only one vote and ignoring any side is a perilous endeavour. So, as I listened to them talk while we stuffed our faces with ketupat, rendang and numerous other delicacies (this conversation happened last Raya), it dawned to me that they may have a point there. More importantly, after losing again and again with them bringing the “progress” theme in their campaign, the BN politicians are still sticking to the same there in Kelantan. Has it not dawned on them that this theme is not working in Kelantan? Perhaps, there really is something very wrong with these people.