(With no new ideas, the battle in Hulu Selangor has now turned into a “battle of the bottles”, so some quarters say. No word on the street that Kamalanathan also drinks but Indians are known to take alcohol like water. Image source: http://scottthong.wordpress.com)
Please read Part 1 here and Part 2 here and Part 3 here on Hulu Selangor by-elections.
Malaysiakini reports:-
Former Selangor Umno liaison chief Dr Mohd Khir Toyo believes that the repeated attacks on PKR Hulu Selangor by-election candidate Zaid Ibrahim’s past as a drinker was a good campaign strategy.
The move to highlight Zaid’s admission that he used to consumed alcohol in his younger days was a way to discourage PAS’ grassroots from supporting the former minister, said Khir.
Interestingly the above evidence did not come as an “issue” during the last general election (in fact, there was pin-drop silence from people like Khir on this). Is it because when it comes to BN, past is past, bygones are bygones and not for others?
Even if we accept that Zaid used to be a drinker, does it really matters for the people in Hulu Selangor?
RPK said this in Malaysia Today:-
Zaid, in turn, is being whacked for his alleged ‘drinking habit’. Okay, let us say he does. So he drinks. So what?
Does he buy his drinks using the taxpayers’ money? Does he rob the rakyat to support his drinking habit? Is his liquor being bought using our money? Or does he indulge with his own money and not the money he stole from us?
So you see, even if he does drink, and I am not saying he does, does he hurt any of us or only himself?
Compare that with this news:-
Bakti members comprising wives of ministers and deputy ministers, who were travelling home via Europe, had to reschedule their return as most airports in the continent remained closed due to lingering volcanic ash from Iceland.
The group, which arrived here on Thursday after visiting a children’s handicap centre and a youth high-risk centre in Washington last week
(Source: TheStar)
Surely there are not “drinkers” in the eyes of BN but how much of taxpayers’ money went into their travel expenses, accommodations, shopping and “sounds important to justify the trip but it is not” visits to handicap and youth centres crap.
What is the need for the Bakti members to be travelling to the US and returning via Europe (cough for “shopping”?) when they do similar “welfare” work right here in Malaysia?
And some people say corruption is at a manageable level in Malaysia. I rest my case – Zaid can have all the drinks he wants (not that he wants it) but he will come out cleaner for Hulu Selangor than some of the people claiming to be better.