TAPAH – Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) strategy to use Perak as a catalyst to capture Putrajaya has not fazed Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, who believes the move is not enough to dent Barisan Nasional’s (BN) onslaught on the state and federal administrations.
Similarly, the MIC deputy president said the waning “Bossku” aura of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak following his incarceration will not influence the result of the upcoming general election.
Speaking to The Vibes, Saravanan, who is a three-term Tapah MP, said he is convinced that Perak’s voters are politically conscious and mature enough to differentiate good and bad when casting their ballots.
This particularly rings true considering that all major parties in the country have had their fair share of the federal administration, having ruled the government during separate periods throughout the last parliamentary term, he noted.
BN has been in power, but so has PAS, Bersatu, DAP, and PKR. The rakyat have seen the performances of ministers from all these parties,” he said in an interview at the Tapah MIC headquarters here yesterday.
“PH, for example, was given the mandate in the last election. In 22 months, they broke up into five parties.
“Although BN lost after 60 years of being in power, the core parties remain united. This is our strength. The rakyat gave PH a chance, but they couldn’t prove their competence.
“In this regard, the presence of top leaders from the opposition (in Perak) will not threaten BN’s overall position in the state and Putrajaya.”
Saravanan was commenting on PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s decision to contest in Tambun, as well as rumours of other big names attempting to make their mark in Perak, and whether this would lead to a voters’ tsunami in the state that could provide the push to capture Putrajaya.
Among others, PKR’s Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin, who famously unseated then Melaka chief minister Tun Mohd Ali Rustam from the Bukit Katil federal seat in 2013, is set to contest in Bagan Datuk against Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Newly appointed PKR vice-president K. Saraswathy is also rumoured to be chosen by the party to face Saravanan in Tapah.
Commenting on his seat, Saravanan said while he acknowledges that Saraswathy should be considered one of PKR’s big guns, he does not feel threatened by the contest as he is convinced the rakyat will be able to judge his contribution to the constituency.
M’sians still sympathise with ‘Bossku’
Elaborating on the perceived waning of Najib’s influence on the local political scene since his incarceration two months ago, Saravanan is confident that it will not hamper BN’s march to victory on November 19.
This, he said, is motivated by the sentiment of a large portion of Malaysians who continue to commiserate with the former prime minister and Umno president over his imprisonment.
Although the ‘Bossku’ aura has dwindled, many still sympathise with Bossku, because the rakyat can’t bear to see Bossku sit in prison.
“At the same time, we see that Malaysians in general believe we have to respect the country’s judiciary system. In that regard, the (waning) aura won’t affect BN’s victory,” he said.
Najib was sent to Kajang Prison, where he will serve 12 years of jail time, after the apex court on August 23 upheld the guilty verdict against him in all seven charges in his SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption case.
Prior to his imprisonment, Najib was credited for much of Umno’s resurgence in the past couple of years, during which time he adopted the Bossku moniker.
His “Malu apa Bossku” slogan also later became part of Najib’s social media rebranding after the BN regime he led was toppled in the 2018 general election.
In March, Zahid had said the Bossku aura continues to go strong despite Najib no longer leading the country, and credited him for Umno’s victory in the Johor and Melaka elections. – The Vibes, October 23, 2022
Additional reporting by Lancelot Theseira
