Strategic importance of Cameron Highlands

The fall of the BN empire in 2018 to the hands of the invading Pakatan Harapan forces is historically similar to the surrender of the British in Malaya to the Imperial Japanese Army in 1942.  BN supporters, especially those working in the Government or GLCs, now live under Imperial Pakatanese rule and are afraid that Harapan Kempeitai will knock on their door at midnite.

However, just as in the Pacific theatre in World War 2, the Pakatan war machine will now take on the  regrouped BN task force in the do or die Battle for Cameron Highlands, which has a similar historical significance to the Battle of Midway in 1942.

To give some historical perspective, the Battle of Midway, which pitted the Naval forces of the United States of America against the Imperial Japanese Navy has long been regarded as the turning point in World War 2’s Pacific Theatre. Whilst both sides suffered casualties, it was regarded as a tactical victory for the Allies because they managed to sink several Japanese aircraft carriers, including those which were involved in the raid on Pearl Harbour a few months back. In fact the scale of the defeat was so bad that news of the Battle of Midway was hidden from the Japanese public. 3 years and 2 months later, Japan was forced to surrender on the deck of the USS Misouri.

Likewise,  the BN in Malaya were surprised by the superior tactics of Pakatan Harapan, especially their use of Tsunami Phitnah Scorched Earth policy to overwhelm key defences and convince the simple rakyat that the BN Governmemt was 4 P Government or a Kerajaan Perompak, Penyagak, Penyamun and Pencuri. Technically, Pakatan Harapan was not wrong but it is generally considered very bad manners to accuse the BN Government of being corrupt in such a catchy fashion, which could lead simple kampong folk astray. Part of this point was brought up by Pasir Salak MP when he confronted his ex-boss Tan Sri Muhiyiddin Yassin in Parliament on the unnecessary use of the alliteration.

However after a torrid few months, which saw key loyal BN leaders, including the Ketua Kampung of Putrajaya,  hauled up to court, BN has formed an alliance with PAS and are ready to reuse their powerful weapons of race and religon to regain the lost territory.

This leads us to this massive clash between the might of the Pakatan Federal artillery againat BN local defenders and State Machinery in Pahang. Strategically, Cameron Highlands is a key defensive point for UMNO- PAS. If Pakatan overruns BN in Cameron, not only Pahang but Kelantan is in danger of falling into enemy hands as well.

Psychologically,  the stakes are much higher. This is the first by election in a BN won constituency, and all the by-elections before this has been easily won by Pakatan. It is very clear that going into this battle, BN is very confident that it will successfully defend its ground and inflict a first major defeat on Pakatan.

And if they are succesful, BN can easily halt the perception that UMNO and ethno-religious politics is dead. This will also probably lead to the return of many UMNO MPs who jumped last year. The public and especially the civil servants will also gain in confidence that Pakatan is a one term Government and will collapase soon.

That is if BN wins. Lose, and it is practically all over for UMNO. Pakatan would have sucessfully shown that the mini revival under Tok Mat has has no effect. If this were to happen, UMNO supporters might as well regard this country as Syonan-To.

However,  The Rembau Times is predicting that BN will prevail in Cameron. Without Anwar Ibrahim as PM, Pakatan Harapan is lacking the key leadership to hold on to its captured territory. A BN win should be set in place a change in the nation’s top leadership, for if not it is just a matter of time before BN recaptures all its lost territory.