Selfish leaders cause of opposition mauling, says veteran newsman

 

A Kadir Jasin says older leaders of the opposition have become a liability to their parties.

PETALING JAYA: Veteran newsman A Kadir Jasin says the opposition’s loss in the Johor elections stemmed from senselessly fighting against one another.

He said while the support for opposition parties remained strong, their selfishness, egoism and outdated leadership had cost them victory.

“Instead of fighting Barisan Nasional (BN), they senselessly fought one another.

“In the case of PKR, it even forsook Pakatan Harapan (PH), believing that its symbol would bring victory,” he said in a Facebook post today.

In January, PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim said the PH presidential council had agreed to allow his party to use its own logo in the Johor polls while Amanah and DAP would contest under the PH banner.

Kadir added that although BN won 71% of the state assembly seats (40 out of 56), it had lost in terms of the popular vote.

“BN only received 43% of the popular vote against the opposition’s 57%,” he said.

Given that, he said all leaders of these parties should move aside and allow the youths to take over.

“They (older leaders) have become a liability to their parties and are depriving talented young leaders the opportunity to lead,” he said.

He suggested the names of a few older politicians who should form the core for future leaders across the political spectrum, including Khairy Jamaluddin, Loke Siew Fook and Salahuddin Ayub.

“We will do well if we have younger, untainted (or less tainted) leaders taking charge of the country,” he said.

Despite the flaws in the Johor elections, Kadir said there was still hope for the future as 63 of the candidates who had contested in the polls were aged below 40.

“BN should be applauded for putting up the most number of candidates below 40 (14).

“There may yet be hope for a cleaner Umno/BN, provided these young hopefuls are not corrupted by the Bossku-type,” he said. - FMT