Are tears the only thing PKR can offer?

 

"What we need to do is to appeal to the people and try to win again."

– Rafizi Ramli

The country is going down the crapper. Inflation is a beast that reminds us that bangsa and agama mean very little to it.

Operatives of the deep Islamic state are running riot and attempting to further destabilise the country's wobbly secular guard rails.

The political class has given up any pretence of governing and instead is heading towards an end game, which would determine if the last visages of secularity in this country remain or will Malaysia slide into a theocratic stupor beloved by the boys from Langley.

I mean no disrespect to Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (above) but at a time like this, when the majority of citizens in this country are suffering in their own distinct racial and religious way, because of the economic and social policies of the Malay uber alles government, her tears seem superficial, disingenuous even.

Why? Because they are shed for the party and not because the average rakyat are feeling the decades-long failure of a political class that includes Pakatan Harapan.

What the hell is going on in PKR? PKR, it would seem, has learnt nothing from the Sheraton Move.

One would have thought, with a series of failed elections in their wake, the failed strategies of Anwar Ibrahim and disenchanted grassroots, the leadership of PKR would have gone into self-preservation mode and declared a detente amongst the various groups vying for power.

And what are they really fighting for? It is not as if PKR is in any position to offer the bounties of government to those in power.

People are essentially fighting over positions in a moribund political party which may very well be wiped out in the next general election.

Sure they may cling on to power in various states but the reality is, that if by now PKR has not got a grip on what it is and what it hopes to achieve, this may very well be the death knell of the party.

And haven’t we all heard this before? Anwar and his second in command are sniping behind the scenes before it becomes public.

PKR supporters and their proxies in the media have to take sides, while the situation in the country gets worse.

This in turn creates the optics that as the "Malay" vote-getter in Harapan, PKR is failing miserably, which then allows detractors to wallow in the kind of racism, especially on social media which feeds into the narratives of the Malay uber alles parties.

Get house in order

Whether Anwar is losing popularity or Rafizi Ramli airing his grievances through the proper channels is not the point.

PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli with president Anwar Ibrahim

The point is that this country is going down the manure hole, and the opposition party which is supposed to be the tent pole, is having these pathetic public squabbles while Wan Azizah is offering up her tears in the corner.

In her latest piece, Mariam Mokhtar said the opposition needs to make some hard decisions to make a fresh start. This is of course true but the reality is that PKR is supposed to be the alternative to the other Malay uber alles parties out there.

Whether this is true ideologically or not is beside the point. The fact is that the tent pole PKR needs to get its house in order before Harapan can formulate an electoral strategy to counter its political opponents.

It is because PKR is on political life support, the only way to mitigate the damage done is to adopt a no shortcut attitude if the party is to remain a credible alternative to Umno/BN or Umno/PN.

I won’t bother going into the failures of Harapan but look at who they are up against, various ethnic and religious cabals who have no interests in anything else but ensuring that the establishment continues in a haze of religious and economic corruption under a feudal system of patronage.

And god knows, the fights between the various factions in PKR are not ideological, it's about personalities, the biggest of which is Anwar, who is causing the most damage.

The irony is that if Anwar had sat down with his new right hand and made a public showing of support for the younger generation of leadership in PKR, all this talk of him stepping down would be moot.

Anwar should be bringing all the factions together, making it clear that he and Rafizi are leading the party. Instead what we witness, are the craven manoeuvrings of various political operatives and their open warfare on social media and the press.

To think all this could be smoothed over if only Anwar would commit to a course of actions which is supported by a majority of Harapan supporters, including PKR supporters.

All these questions about him stepping down would be sublimated under the enthusiasm of Harapan getting down to business.

If Anwar and Rafizi are to lead the charge for Harapan in the upcoming general election, they would both need to articulate a people-centric political narrative that eschews the Harapan talking points of Najib Abdul Razak and “corruption” but instead relies on genuine utilitarian reforms.

Otherwise, all that we are left with are tears. - Mkini

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.