Yes, Pakatan is not perfect but...

YOURSAY 'The electorate is convinced the way out is inaugurating a two-party system, having a strong opposition that can offer the people a viable alternative government.'

Whatever the alternative, BN has to go

Blind Freddo: If Malaysians were truly honest with themselves, they would realise that Pakatan Rakyat has already proven itself to be a failure.

With the exception of Penang which is led by DAP, the rest of the Pakatan states are an exercise in bumbling incompetence, failure to adhere to their own guidelines and ego driven decision-making...

They have had ample time to draw up a detailed manifesto, to create shadow ministries and come up with a party of credible candidates. They have done nothing but gripe about BN and throw around a few vote-buying strategies.

They can't think, they don't think and they don't care, because all they want is power. If you want some ideas of what they should be promoting, go take a look at Malaysia180. There you will have something to debate about.

Cannon: Blind Freddo, Malaysians are broadly convinced there is no future for us as a nation under Umno-BN. Umno is a rogue party out of control. BN is but an Umno front for the purpose of gaining legitimacy. It is the hegemony of Umno that is killing us, driving our country into the ground.

There is no hope if we continue to go down this road with this regime. The electorate is convinced the way out is inaugurating a two-party system, and having a strong opposition that can offer the people a viable alternative government.

Pakatan represents that vital opportunity for our country to make a breakthrough for a two-party system. We need a strong citizens' democracy and a parliamentary system with check and balances to balance Umno.

Come to think about it, back in the 70s when the NEP (New Economic Policy) was rolled out, the thought was unthinkable for the people to get rid of Umno. Then, it was also unthinkable that Umno could degenerate to such lawlessness.

The genie has come of the bottle and has turned to be a monster. The party is predatory, rapacious and insatiably greedy, worse than Somali pirates because it controls our whole state apparatus and cannot be made accountable.

We can see the kingpins of Umno taking turns to "gasak" and "sapu" our economy. They have to be stopped and only Pakatan can do that. Malaysians must wake up.

The citizens of Malaysia must regain sovereignty and not surrender it over to the government of the day. The citizens must make the government account for and justify its performance for its mandate to be renewed.

We must control the politicians and not allow the politicians to control us - be it BN or Pakatan. We must never just come out to vote once every five years and then go back to sleep for the next five years, allowing the politicians a free hand to do their thing.

We are responsible for creating a monster by default. We must behave differently for us to have a different result.

Telestai!: My take is it is going to be a mixed bag situation with Pakatan. The gelling factor for Pakatan is not congruency of views, but rather the common enemy in BN.

Deep inside Pakatan, there are a lot of conflicts with the potential to erupt. Between the devil we know well in BN and the devil we know a bit about in Pakatan, I am still inclined to try out Pakatan knowing that it is not perfect.

Truly: One cannot rule forever. Any healthy democracy will and should support change.

Anonymous_4031: Fifty-five years of uninterrupted governance of a nation is extremely long.

In a democratic nation, no party lasts more than one term as the voters will throw it out and try another if it fails to perform. If the successor fails, then the voters will also throw it out; and try, perhaps, a third party.

Why is PM Najib Razak scared of debating with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim? Is it not our culture?

Dumb&Deaf: Let's cut the crap and get down to the core issue some intelletuals cling on to when it comes to Pakatan and Anwar. They're afraid of Ayatollah politics.

They think if PAS becomes powerful, the young mad mullahs will have more clout and enforce reactionary Islamic laws that will plunge the country back into the dark ages.

Well, this kind of religious fanaticism is a spiritual disease humans have been plagued with for thousands of years - remember the Inquisition? What about Abraham's rampage across Canaan, slaughtering men, women and children unless they bowed before the God of the Hebrews?

If those of us who are human and humane would stop being hypocrites and publicly disown the religions we were born into, pretty soon we would be free from these parasitic control freaks.

Peter Parker: Those who claim that Pakatan is no different from BN are either lying to themselves or are totally blind.

Please open your eyes and be honest in appraising the performance of Selangor Pakatan since 2008. Even if you don't give it 50 percent better than when Selangor was under BN, will you give it at least 10 percent better?

Urkidding: Who gave them absolute power? The same rakyat should now stand up to show them the exit. Look at our tiny neighbour.

They are now the richest country in the world and we are just a causeway away. Are we not ashamed of this? - Malaysiakini