The Third Force: Crisis or opportunity?

If the Third Force also has the good intention of ending BN’s rule, Pakatan Rakyat should by all means engage with them to field good candidates in the coming General Election. By good candidates, it means that they are morally upright and financially sound. They must also be honourable citizens who are well-known for their contributions to the well-being of society.

Selena Tay, Harakah

John F. Kennedy once said, "when written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters – one represents ‘danger’ and the other represents ‘opportunity’".

This applies to the current situation facing Pakatan Rakyat (PR) as there has been talk that a 'third force' will be contesting in the coming 13th General Elections. Talk is also rife that candidates from this Third Force group will contest under the Pakatan banner but they will be Independent if voted in as MPs in Parliament.

So, is this going to be a crisis or opportunity for Pakatan?

Frankly speaking, this writer is of the view that although this is not really too good for Pakatan, it is not too bad either if the Third Force candidates are Pakatan-friendly. This is because if they are candidates of good-calibre, why not? After all, a few of the opposition candidates who contested in 2008 have been proven to be inefficient and coupled with their numerous personal problems have turned BN-friendly.

In situations of war, we must not be too rigid in our thinking. This is aptly illustrated in the famous military classic history summarised below:

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there was a cruel and powerful warlord named Cao Cao who had great military might. Another warlord named Liu Bei had just lost a great battle to Cao Cao and was feeling very down and dejected. His advisors then advised him to seek out the counsel of the master strategist called Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang who believed in the cause of justice and freedom from oppression advised Liu Bei to forge an alliance with another warlord called Sun Quan. Liu Bei did not really like Sun Quan but he had no choice as he was short on resources. To cut a long story short, the alliance of Liu Bei and Sun Quan finally defeated Cao Cao in the famous Battle Of Red Cliff.

In over 1,600 years of war in Ancient China, many military strategies have been recorded for posterity as military treatises for future references and study. One of the greatest lessons learnt in war is that situations on the battleground are very fluid, changes occur very quickly, unexpected problems crop up and therefore we have to re-adapt and re-adjust accordingly. Many times too, plans needed to be changed at the 11th hour and alliances must be forged whether we like it or not.

There is a well-known saying which goes like this: ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’. In simpler terms it is summed up as thus: ‘we must unite to fight against the same common enemy’.

If the Third Force also has the good intention of ending BN’s rule, Pakatan Rakyat should by all means engage with them to field good candidates in the coming General Election. By good candidates, it means that they are morally upright and financially sound. They must also be honourable citizens who are well-known for their contributions to the well-being of society.

While the Third Force is busy looking for potential candidates, I would like to advise Pakatan Rakyat to be doing the same now. If PR has good candidates, it will have stronger bargaining power with the 3rd Force. We don’t want last-minute opportunists using the Pakatan banner to contest in the elections only to serve their own selfish interests after gaining victory.

By negotiating with the Third Force to field their candidates under the PR banner in strategic locations in a one-to-one fight with BN, Pakatan have much to gain from this alliance.

There is no point for PR to be stubborn in fielding their own candidate if the quality of the candidate is pathetic resulting in a 3-cornered fight which will only benefit BN. Therefore, this writer thinks now an opportunity has presented itself for PR to have access to a larger pool of able and credible candidates by forging an alliance with this Third Force.

At the end of the day, the end result must be a victory for the Pakatan side and in order to achieve this there must a certain amount of compromise from the Third Force and also from Pakatan which will result in a win-win situation for both and a win against BN.

Perhaps those who read this article will not agree with this writer but this is as sound a military strategy as can be hammered out considering the circumstances of the current political scenario.

Selena Tay is a member of PAS Supporters Congress (DHPP).