Hishamuddin Assures Ijok Voters

Today’s Utusan Malaysia (April 26, 2007) carried a report of Hishamuddin Hussein, UMNO Youth Chief, assuring Ijok voters of their safety on election day, April 28, 2007. He said they need not fear disturbances from supporters of the opposition parties (PKR, PAS, and DAP).

He did not say whether the disturbances could come from the BN, which is also a possibility!

Hishamuddin said that opposition parties are always ‘acting outside the limits’ (bertindak di luar batasan), creating apprehension among voters, as had happened on nomination day. He was implying that opposition supporters were the ones who started the ruckus on April 19, 2007, even though many eye witnesses saw BN youth as the culprits. Police reports have been made about the commotion, but we may not know of the results of police investigations, if there was one.

BN is one of the parties contesting in the by-election. Why is Hishamuddin acting as if he is the police, assuring the voters of their safety? Shouldn't the police be the ones issuing the statement?

Poor PKR! Their supporters are always blamed for everything that goes wrong at elections and nominations. The BN youths and supporters are always portrayed as law-abiding citizens, although many eye witnesses report how their Oxford trained deputy leader was also responsible for the rising of tension on nomination day.

It is a sad day for Malaysia to have a rising star in UMNO behaving in a way that does not reflect his Oxford educational background. I would have thought that Oxford, being a premier higher education institution in the U.K., would have prepared the Deputy UMNO Youth with the basics of upholding democratic principles and fair play in a civilized society. What a let down!