Harapan’s fatal attraction to Muda

 

“Without faith nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.”

- Mary McLeod Bethune

Desperate times and situations lead to desperate measures. Reeling from a defeat in Malacca, Pakatan Harapan is taking all the wrong steps to make itself relevant again, ignoring the fact that it won the last general election.

Harapan’s tenuous waltz and courtship with Muda for state seats in Johor, reminiscent of its previous fatal attraction to Bersatu in 2018, looks all set to end in disaster as the coalition shoots itself in the foot by assigning seats it could win to young upstart, Muda.

Recall that in GE14, Harapan made a horrendous mistake, giving Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s fledgling Bersatu 52 Parliament seats to contest in Peninsular Malaysia. Bersatu won just 13 for a win rate of only 25 percent while Amanah won 50 percent, PKR won nearly 90 percent, DAP over 90 percent of seats contested in Peninsular Malaysia.

Nevertheless, Mahathir became PM by prior agreement, supposedly interim, He thwarted reformation dreams by effectively handing over power to renegade factions and eventually power went to Umno.

So momentous was the turn of events that the tide now seems to have turned against Harapan and for Umno. The so-called ‘court cluster’ of convicts and potentially to-be-convicts now stands an outside chance of regaining power in a nation deep with disappointment.

Now, on the eve of the Johor state elections, Harapan, pressured again by a populace dejected and disappointed with the current crop of politicians, is caving in by giving away seats to the young, just registered Muda, which has no infrastructure, no broad membership, no experience and no capability to run an election campaign.

Six have been allotted by Amanah and DAP to Muda, while PKR is supposedly still negotiating to give some more to Muda.

Why Harapan would even think of embarking on such an experiment having failed so spectacularly and recently when they allowed Bersatu in to split their ranks and steal a victory which was rightfully theirs after almost two decades of struggle and sacrifice by its members and activists is simply beyond belief.

It reflects a deep lack of confidence in and among its leadership even within the party which can only be overcome by a clear restatement of hopes, ideals, and plans for the future of the nation unambiguously and sticking with it through thick and thin and good and bad.

Thus, the only coalition capable of defeating the Umno/BN/PN juggernaut in the next round of elections has cut its legs from under itself and instead has succumbed to allying itself with an upstart party - yes, that’s what it is - to make itself relevant.

What a comedown for a party which energised Malaysians to stand up and vote against the most corrupt regime we have ever seen only to see victory rudely snatched out of their hands by a group of highly corrupt operatives who snuck into the coalition and brought it down in a modern-day Trojan horse operation.

Instead of regrouping, restrategising and reinvigorating to regain victory, everything that Harapan - and PKR - seems to be doing is to hurt themselves and to ensure that it never comes back to power again, playing right into the hands of its opponents.

Stick to original core

By now the PKR/Anwar Ibrahim-led Harapan should have realised that the only way to regain power is to stick as one in the original core group - PKR, DAP and Amanah - and not to dilute its power by allying with unproven parties with unproven leaders whose loyalty to the Harapan coalition is questionable. This applies particularly to Peninsular Malaysia.

Take the Johor state elections caused by the Umno menteri besar calling for one. The current seat standing is given in the table below.

That shows the Umno-led government having just a one-seat majority at 28 seats against the opposition’s 27, following the death of a government assemblyman.

The important thing to note is the block of 11 Bersatu seats. If not for the traitorous (nothing less) defection of Bersatu from Harapan, the Harapan government would still be in power with 38 of 56 seats in the state assembly.

It is significant to note that the state was safely in the hands of Harapan at the end of GE14 itself in May 2018 when the Harapan coalition had 36 seats or 64 percent handsomely in hand against Umno/BN/PAS of 20 seats.

The point is this: The public bought the idea of reform that Harapan had in mind and which Harapan still holds but which strangely does not articulate boldly, loudly and without shame. Bersatu betrayed the Harapan cause.

What needs to be done is to restore the Harapan cause, not to make alliances with new bedfellows such as Muda, headed by an opportunistic young man who has made dubious decisions and tried to strike alliances with others besides Harapan. Moreover, a young man who owes the rise of his political career almost entirely to Mahathir.

Now that Warisan of Sabah has thrown its ‘siga’ (traditional Sabahan headgear) into the peninsula ring, it’s time that Harapan leader Anwar Ibrahim truly identifies who his friends are - the original core group of PKR, DAP and Amanah in the peninsula. Make sure they stick together.

And don’t give precious seats away like in 2018 for even if there is victory, ultimately there will be defeat because the quality of people he is aligning with are not likely to stick with Harapan. Why give Harapan’s support and infrastructure to people who have none in the first place? Why make the same mistake twice?

Why not prioritise younger leaders in PKR, DAP and Amanah and give them a chance to lead instead of handing it over to the inexperienced whose allegiance is already doubtful. People like Rafizi Ramli, Nurul Izzah, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, R Sivarasa, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Wong Chen, Willian Leong, Fuziah Salleh, to mention some from PKR.

Anthony Loke, Gobind Singh Deo, Charles Santiago, Ong Kian Ming, Yeoh Bee Yin, Hannah Yeoh, M Kulasegaran, etc, from DAP; Mohamad Sabu, Khalid Samad, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, Salahuddin Ayub, etc, from Amanah. That’s quite a list, albeit incomplete - apologies for those not mentioned.

But who will be on the list for Muda with similar experience when it comes to crunch time? Do we have to go from the very old to the very young, skipping the very important middle-aged group who have enough wisdom and vigour to see through the change?

It’s time Harapan behaved like it can win, otherwise why should anyone support it? If it plays its cards well it can win - even in Johor and has a good chance at GE15. Time and a plan of action is of the essence.

But it - and Malaysia - must regain faith first.

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P GUNASEGARAM is an independent writer and consultant. - Mkini