Part 2 : Make Sure You Choose The Right Partner

 

Someone move that building

Here is something from Hussein Abdul Hamid. My comments in blue. 

THE DAP, MUDA, AMANAH, WARISAN ALIGMENT?

By Hussein Abdul Hamid

PH, a coalition of the unwilling, united under duress and distress came together more as an exercise in futility that could never have stood the test that opposites attract. At the very first adversarial opportunity, provided in our case by Langkah Sheraton, the fragility and impossibility of the Tun/DSAI coalition, became a fait accompli.

Not even the Rakyat’s and our nation’s needs could hold the PH coalition together. The sum of the self interests and avarice of Malaysian politicians always prevails over the greater good  of the rakyat and the nation.   

OSTB : The PH could have survived if not for the fact that PH and Tun Dr Mahathir became highly ineffective and unpopular in such a short time. The PH lost seven By Elections in a row and they almost lost their deposit money at the last one in Tanjong Piai in Johor. When Dr M became so unpopular, a condition from which he has never recovered, his own people lost faith in his ability to be prime minister. The incompetence of some of his Ministers hastened the loss of support and popularity of the PH government including the antics of Ministers like the Flying Car fellow and the grossly incompetent Minister of Education who eventually became the first Minister to be fired from his job by Dr Mahathir. But it was too late. Dr Mahathir got himself fired. 

So now DAP, MUDA, AMANAH, and WARISAN, a coalition without Tun and DSAI will succeed? 

Or is it just DAP again choosing to hitch its wagon to a Malay who will “most succeed” in PRU15? In the need to stay relevant, mainstream and in government, we have seen DAP willing to ‘work’ with PAS, Anwar, Tun and now Syed Saddiq? Surely DAP is better than that? What next? A coalition with Umno? Huh that possibility might keep Guan Eng and Kit Siang awake just thinking of what could be...but for me that is vulture politics! Anything to be in government. Any government!    

OSTB: DAP ditching brader AI? This is news to me. After being completely wiped out in Melaka and Sarawak it is most likely brader AI and the PKR will be wiped in the Johor polls as well (if it happens). The fellow who never was, has become a has been. But certainly the DAP has benefited greatly over the past 24 years from exploiting brader AI - they won Penang (since 2008), Perak, Selangor and are now the biggest party in Parliament. Plus the UMNO government of Ismail Sabri now exists with the support of the DAP's MoU. The DAP has been savvy indeed. 

A case can be made for any or all of the above. Let not any Malay doubt the political acumen and street saviness of DAP. They are now the largest faction  - and yet being Chinese in numbers and in fact, DAP follows, not lead, DAP kowtow not command and DAP certainly are left to pick up what crumbs thrown their way by their Malay partners - no matter which Malay they choose to backed.

If I was DAP….but wait, I am NOT DAP  and I will never be able to understand the inner demons and thinking that drives DAP to do anything it needs to partake in government at the Federal level. Almost anything! This time around, to survive,  it ditches DSAI  and links up with Syed Saddiq.

Is it good enough for DAP to come out of PRU15 with a handful of Ministerial level crumbs thrown their way by Saddiq? Maybe of the fi----ial kind? MF perhaps? Only time will tell.  

OSTB : Make sure you choose the right partner. 

PH was wrecked asunder by Langkah Shearaton. Since then there have been countless times when PH could have seized the moment -  carpe diem - and took back government, if only the PH coalition had stayed together and weathered the political storm - but it did not. At the first opportunity, DSAI/PKR decamped and PH fell apart. Alas vested interest, not the Rakyat’s interests always prevails in Malaysian politics.   

OSTB : Brader AI has been a disaster - in every aspect of the word. But if it is true that DAP is dumping him, he has another option - team up with UMNO and Pas. That would create a solid Malay coalition. He may not be PM but certainly that will prolong his shelf life. Timing is critical. Seeing that he won ZERO seats in Melaka and Sarawak he would have to team up with UMNO now - which might give Ismail Sabry a longer lease at the PM's Office. 

Let us now wait to see when DAP will officially announce what is now already a fact. That they have abandoned DSAI and are now officially with Syed Saddiq and whoever else Saddiq is with. It is not my place to argue the good and bad of such a coalition, suffice for me to say that with the largest political faction backing him, Saddiq better be generous when dishing out cabinet goodies should Putrajaya ever become his after PRU15. Enough said. 

OSTB :  Thith ith a very tall order. Politicth here juth like everywhere elth dependth on a throng prethenth on the ground.  Without a throng branch network and the army of election workers it will be a really uphill tathk.

Make thure you chooth the right partner.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.