An Umno Supreme Council member today said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the main cause of Barisan Nasional's (BN) defeat in the Lunas state by-election yesterday.

Shahrir Samad of Johor Umno said the main reason BN lost the seat was because of "the character of our leader, Dr Mahathir".

In the by-election, BN's S Anthonysamy lost to Saifuddin Nasution Ismail of Barisan Alternatif (BA) by a margin of 530 votes. The defeat also resulted in BN losing its two-thirds majority in the Kedah state assembly.

Not mincing his words, Shahrir said, "Dr Mahathir's personal flaws as shown in his 'advice speech' in which he was critical of the Chinese, sounding as if he was angry with and hurt by (kecil hati) the Chinese. This is the 'old man syndrome' of orang tua merajuk (old man sulking)."

He said the vote for BA was a vote against Umno, which is seen as the government.

'Quite happy'

"The voters did not see any changes in the government which is perceived as full of corruption, self-serving and out of touch with the people," Shahrir elaborated.

""Despite the fact that they are Kedahans and hold the top two posts in the government, Mahathir and (Finance Minister) Daim (Zainuddin) could not be bothered with the by-election.

"The people voted against a situation that has not changed - it is not the Anwar issue.

"Umno and BN have not responded to the wake-up call after the general elections. Maybe it only affected certain levels or maybe Umno woke up for only two months and then went back to their slumber. In fact, certain Umno factions in Kedah are quite happy with this loss."

Shahrir said that the use of Mahathir's posters instead of the BN candidate's might also have caused the backlash against BN.

""By putting up the PM's posters, the Kedah chief minister obviously wanted to show that it is not important whether Umno or BN wins, but it is important that the PM wins. It is obvious that the internal dynamics of mengampu boss (sycophants) are still very much alive," said Shahrir.

Konco-konco

According to Shahrir, the practice of using the prime minister's posters instead of those of the standing candidates was not new.

"I had the same experience in 1988 during the Tanjung Puteri by-election when the Umno Baru candidate stood for the first time.

"I was the campaign manager and my directive was 'do not use PM's posters" as the Johor Malays were very unhappy with the PM over the Musa Hitam and Umno issue then.

"I was criticised by the konco-konco PM (PM's hardcore followers) such as Mohammad Rahmat (the former Information Minister), giving me the message that it was important for the PM to win more than anything else," said Shahrir.

"There is full disregard for what is happening on the ground to the people. With such a character, when the Opposition requests for votes, the people oblige."