Selangor BN's scorched earth tactics

... in strait places gar keep all store,
And byrnen ye plainland them before,
That they shall pass away in haist
What that they find na thing but waist
....This is the counsel and intent
Of gud King Robert's testiment.

- Robert the Bruce, King of Scots

Malaysiakini reported the Selangor MB, Khalid Ibrahim, revealing in the State Assembly how the previous BN government went on a scorched earth tactic. Each of its previous assembly person, and even one who wasn’t, spent around RM500,000 to RM600,000 of the State allocation within a mere period of just two months prior to the election.

The new MB stated that the RM27m spent by BN reps in two months represented 90.6% of the total State allocations.

Khalid also disclosed a significant observation that many of the ADUNs from the previous BN government spent a common sum of either RM592,800 or RM492,800.

With all those 8’s, maybe the sum expended was on the advice of a Chinese feng shui master? And who can say that's not true - after all we have been informed that UMNO politicians and even PKR ones were known to go as far as Sumatra and Java to consult bomohs to ensure their political victories.

In my posting Religious Devotion of Malaysian Politicians 2 years ago, I wrote:

… in Indonesia, one of the most popular destinations for consulting a bomoh is Asahan in Sumatera. Some years ago there was a rumour that a member of the Malaysian royalty employed Sumateran black magic to keep her hubby under selective impotence – he couldn’t ‘rise to the occasion’ with any other woman. After she left for the happy hunting grounds, the widower demonstrated in no uncertain terms that he was ‘freed’ from her spell. […]

The prize in Malaysian politics is so attractive and undoubtedly immensely profitable that Malaysian politicians have even resorted to the supernatural to keep them in office or win top party posts. I posted this aspect yesterday in Doctor is in - by appointment only! where I discussed a Malaysiakini article which revealed that those occult-inclined politicians have not only been ambitious people from UMNO but also from PKR and PAS, engaging in a sort of War of the OTHER Worlds.

I can understand PKR because it was just another 'branch' of UMNO, but how revealing to learn that PAS politicians have been taking extra 'insurance' as well.

The bomoh politik (shaman who specialises in political advantage for his politician clients) said that non-Malay politicians have also consulted him, and I did wonder who they could be – from MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP? I doubt it would be those prudish, prim and proper DAP.

Hmmm, I want the ones consulted by PKR. The UMNO ones are no longer sakti (magically potent).

But leaving aside the bomohs, the interesting conclusion we can gather from this mad midnight mauling of the State's financial allocations in a mere 2 months, immediately prior to the election, means the BN Selangor State government knew it was in a politically terminal stage - and this perhaps through courtesy of the bomohs - they could have informed UMNO pollies they were in for a drubbing in the election, like "... ta'ada jalan lagi Bapak; lebih beruntung kalau Bapak 'menguruskan' segala2nya sebelum malam keputusan."

If so, we can logically expect, apart from the scorched earth tactics, its stashing (or pre-positioning) of the political equivalent of arms, ammo and food 'dumps' to conduct guerilla warfare against the Pakatan government.

Khalid also revealed how government bureaucracy such as ROS or the Registrar of Societies is refusing to cooperate with the State’s Pakatan government.

Khalid wrote 3 times to ROS to inquire into the affairs and the dissolution of Balkis, but alas, with no joy.

Balkis is of course the so-called charitable organization headed by the wife of the State MB with members made up of wives of ADUNs from the State ruling government, just as Bunga Tanjung is for the wives of ADUNs from the Penang government.

Balkis also did a scorched earth tactic, just like its sister organization in Penang did under the (non housewife but professional) missus of Koh Tsu Koon.

Apart from indulging in tens of thousands of ringgit spent on stuff as souvenirs for 'VVIPs', dinner functions and festivals, including a humongous RM279,000 on sports clothing for Balkis members (did I say 'charitable' organization?), it ‘donated’ RM9.9 million to Bakti, its federal equivalent headed by Jeanne Abdullah. Bunga Tanjung made the same 'donation' of its funds to Bakti.

… perhaps to be held in trust until the BN reclaims Penang and Selangor?

Even an Emperor Napoleon invading Russia would have been aghast at the destructiveness of such a retreating ‘army’ including its ‘wives corp’, a scorched earth campaign far beyond what was advocated by Generalmajor Karl Ludwig von Phull.

But then, these have been the malicious tactics of the BN, with morals belonging more to medieval mean-spirited maurading feudal warlords than the people's elected governments of a democracy.