‘Frustrated’ voters will back BN in polls, says RPK
(The Malaysian Insider) – Many voters have become frustrated with Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) performance at the helm in four key states and will throw their support behind Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general elections, Raja Petra Kamarudin said.
In an interview published in Mingguan Malaysia today, the self-exiled blogger said the PKR-DAP-PAS pact was still stuck with the mindset of taking over Putrajaya by “default” as they were confident in being the only alternative to the ruling BN, and that they were using the same anti-Umno tactics to win over voters.
“I am telling you, in the next election they [voters] will support the government. They say, in the next election they will not support the opposition because they are disappointed, dissatisfied, and not confident with the opposition.
“Why the opposition is so confident of forming a federal government? On the basis of ABU (asalkan bukan Umno), of rejecting Umno?” he was quoted saying in an interview published today by the Umno-owned newspaper.
Raja Petra (picture) pointed out that the same strategy was used back in 1999 by the short-lived opposition pact, Barisan Alternatif (BA) against former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed but failed when he retired and passed over the baton to Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi- resulting in BN’s massive electoral win in the 2004 elections.
“If you use the same strategy, what happens when people no longer hate Umno? You cannot start a relationship with people based on hate, it will not last,” he added.
He said infighting between different PR factions were evident in Penang, Selangor and Perak, and that will be why voters will “return to BN and forget Pakatan.”
Raja Petra claimed several Chinese businessmen in Selangor had complained to him that they still had to fork out “under-the-table” money in order to conduct businesses in the state, and that corruption was still rampant there.
“I tell them I do not know what to say. They say, come elections, they will not vote for Pakatan.”.
