Harapan - a registered coalition of hearts and minds

Malaysian politics, at the federal and state level, have always been governed by some form of coalitions before, and since the days, of Merdeka.

The logic is simple and persuasive: the confessional and demographic realities, where different ethnic groups co-exist, need the votes of one another to push the national and development agenda forward.

Thus, one may have encountered the Perikatan (the Alliance) once led by Tunku Abdul Rahman, which morphed into BN. But in the course of the last six decades or more, other coalitions have failed to or not allowed to materialise.

Be it Gagasan Rakyat, Barisan Alternatif, Pakatan Rakyat, indeed, Pakatan Harapan in the form of Bersatu, PKR, DAP and Amanah - four of the most evenly distributed parties representing different races and religious orientations - the government of the day has not tried to engage it with any sense of basic fairness and decorum.

Registrar of Societies (ROS) has been used an instrument of suppression. Whereas Umno is allowed to delay their party elections time and again since 2013, Bersatu, which has had its annual general assembly (AGM) last December 2017 must instead jump through more hoops.

Among them includes submitting the exact minutes and reports of the branches and divisional meetings. But then again, what about Umno? Are they allowed to breach every facet of their own party constitution, including the Federal Constitution, while others are left to rot?

Even DAP was not spared. After one central executive committee election, ROS instructed the office bearers to have another; all at the request of the dark hand in the Prime Minister's Office and the Home Ministry.

The fear of BN - a kleptocracy masquerading as a government - of and against Harapan is understandable, however.

For the first time in many decades, BN knows it has no legs to stand on. Even in Felda constituencies, which are allegedly its fortress, the many scandals in Felda and FGV have made Umno supremely weak.

What more, what is deemed "Felda" constituencies, that comprised some 53 in all, are not really filled with Felda settlers to the brim.

In Tanjung Malim, Perak, for example, there are 22.9 percent of Felda voters in the parliamentary constituency under Ong Ka Chuan.

Elsewhere in Gerik, Larut, Lenggong and Sungai Siput, these are all parliamentary constituencies of Perak too. While these are commonly known as Felda constituencies, the number of Felda settlers in these constituencies do differ markedly, and they are enough to change the outcome of the election in the Felda constituencies.

Gerik, for example, has 8.5 percent of Felda voters; Larut has 4.5 percent; Lenggong has 8.3 percent, and Sungai Siput has 3.4 percent of Felda voters. If there is a swing of eight to nine percent of the Malay and Felda votes, BN and Umno are toast.

Besides, the Felda settlers in Tanjung Malim, Gerik, Larut, Lenggong, and Sungai Siput have nothing to fear. The Harapan government, when it is in power, will be led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Muhyiddin Yassin and Mukhriz Mahathir.

They have led the country and several ministries.

Najib has driven Malaysia into a ditch

BN does not even have an alternative finance minister. Since day one of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's rule in 2009, he has held on tightly to the Ministry of Finance, without letting go. The results? Najib (photo) has driven Malaysia into a ditch.

Of course, when in a hole, stop digging. Yet, to save himself only, he has begun taking easy credit and loans from emerging great powers like China, whose own national debt to GDP ratio has reached 250 percent. What if China collapses financially, as the United States did in the global financial crisis in 2008-2009 when its national debt to GDP was 242 percent and the whole world suffered from it.

As things stand, voters in Malaysia - thanks to organisations like Bersih, Tindak and C4 that are demanding all forms of accountability - are working closely with the rakyat and the different political parties to strengthen Harapan.

With or without registration, Harapan has won the hearts and minds of the voters in Felda and non-Felda areas alike, and Harapan wishes to extend the goodwill to Sabah and Sarawak by respecting the original Malaysia Agreement 1963.

This alone is more than what can be said of BN that is governing by sheer force, total fiat, and fake news. News that even denied criminal conviction of the various perpetrators of 1MDB, and those on the run from the long arm of the laws too.

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RAIS HUSSIN is a supreme council member of Bersatu. He also heads its Policy and Strategy Bureau. -Mkini