Yoursay: For Harapan, hard work beats strategy

YOURSAY | Some of its heavyweights may have to lead in less urban constituencies.

Harapan tussles over best strategy in battle for greater JB

Clever Voter: The Pakatan Harapan coalition is spoilt for choice when it comes to appropriate candidates for key constituencies. Despite this, many of these candidates would appeal more to urban voters rather than the rural folks.

In terms of intellect, they are far above that of Umno and the rest combined. But there will not be enough places for them, due to bias in electoral boundaries in favour of rural constituencies.

A competent candidate should be adaptable and agile, so there should not be a squabble over the selection. It's time the leaders of all sides apply practicality and proven record in the final selection of candidates.

Some of these heavyweights may have to lead in less urban constituencies, for example, Bentong and Teluk Intan. In such matters, one has to give and take.

Even the experience at Selangor's Kota Damansara seat in the last general election (multi-cornered fights) is a useful lesson.

Existential Turd: Whether a constituency is urban or rural, the people appreciate a candidate who walks the ground, not just during election time.

He or she does not have to be a local person. What is important is the candidate spends his or her time getting to know the area and its people, and find out what they are most concerned with.

These include where the drains are clogged, where roads have potholes, where street lights are not working, where garbage is piling up, and where public amenities are in various states of disrepair.

If a candidate knows these things and demonstrates the willingness to help, even if not very successfully, the people would be appreciative and vote for him or her.

No amount of strategising or manoeuvring can replace hard work.

Hopeful123: It is a known fact that DAP is an experienced party compared to PKR. It has seen many electoral battles. PKR, on the other hand, has to learn from its costly mistakes.

Instead of PKR being stubborn and losing the chance of capturing Putrajaya, it would be wise for it to listen carefully to the strategies proposed by the more experienced politicians.

After all, we do not want to lose this election because the campaign is based on mere guesswork. PKR, think about it.

Sleepy: It is a normal human trait to exhibit dissatisfaction over, in this case, seat allocation, although boycotting the Harapan convention, to me, is poor judgment, nevertheless.

Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad must bridge the gap between strategy and emotions.

The opposition is indebted to Anwar Ibrahim

Proarte: Let us not forget that it was not principle that got Anwar Ibrahim ejected from Umno, but a power struggle between him and Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Anwar lost, and he paid the price for 'disloyalty' to the Umno hegemon.

In a sense, one can equally credit Mahathir for creating the opposition as we know it today. If he had not sacked and persecuted Anwar, would a viable Pakatan Rakyat have been formed?

Disappointingly, Anwar as opposition leader did nothing to promote modern democratic norms of equality and religious freedom.

Instead, Anwar cultivated Islamist support in his power struggle and this was a regressive step, which scuppered any hope of real reform.

The fact is Umno's racial supremacy and PAS' Islamic supremacy are opposite sides of the same coin; so it is not surprising we see Umno and turncoat PAS in bed together now.

Anwar rolled out the red carpet for PAS, which enabled it to gain inroads into the Malay heartlands to poison the minds of the hapless Malays. Giving credibility to PAS, he gave it a political voice that could not be ignored.

With its atavistic and supremacist brand of Islam, PAS did much to create divisions within the opposition and the nation as a whole.

Anwar has always been a self-righteous Islamist who never ceases to play the role of 'imam' in his political activities.

I hope he has gradually disabused himself of Islamic hypocrisy and come to realise that if he really wants to be a 'reformist', then the way Islam is practised in Malaysia is in dire need of reformation in order to make it consonant with a modern multi-religious democracy operating on universal norms of human rights and decency.

Islam must no longer be used as a fig-leaf for Muslim privilege, discrimination, injustice and suppression, as is currently happening in Malaysia and the world over.

Quigonbond: I think the issue is not whether political parties can move beyond racial politics. It is whether people, having received an endless stream of propaganda on race and religion from the incumbents, are ready to move on.

Evidently, for now, they are not.

Not until Harapan wins, not until Harapan demonstrates, as a federal government, that tearing down the walls of racial and religious one-upmanship is a good thing to have for this country for all its citizens.

So, right now we have to focus on winning first and establishing a two-coalition political system for this country. Everything else comes second, including notions of Mahathir betraying Harapan in the end.

As long as the BN monolith can fall, democracy will remain alive in this country. That matters the most.

Tekad: Indeed, whatever arguments for and against Harapan, the voting public should be pleased that we are at least beginning to see a proper two-party system taking root in Malaysia.

Prudent: It's the dice, and not who is rolling it, that counts. And BN will want to roll its loaded dice.- Mkini