YOURSAY | ‘Resorting to independent candidates is wishful thinking’

 

YOURSAY | ‘Country needs a tested, stable coalition like Harapan.’

COMMENT | GE15: May the least despised coalition win

Simple Truth: Whilst it is easy to reflect and say Pakatan Harapan did a bad job, why not compare the good it did, considering it had only 22 months to do it?

Yes, Bersatu under former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad betrayed the trust of the people and its coalition partners. I totally agree that the partners were intimidated by Mahathir and let him have his way.

And yes, Harapan made a grave mistake and it paid for it by being defeated by the backdoor government. Having said all that, to respond by electing a third force is not the answer.

Except for Bersatu ministers in Harapan, the rest were doing a decently commendable job and we should not discount all their work. Can you trust the third force to do a better job when they are not even tested and tried? I would not! Better to work with a tested lot than one that may also double cross you like Bersatu.

If Harapan cannot be the government, at least it can be a formidable opposition until the rest of the rakyat wake up to kick out the likes of PAS, Umno and Bersatu.

Kilimanjaro: In a multiracial country like ours, politics has never been a straight line and it will never be.

I share the sentiments expressed by writer G Vinod. I do get upset at the screwing of a "once-a-lifetime" chance at being in the seat of power and authority. But certainly not for the reasons the writer had bemoaningly adduced to.

Harapan's journey in office was shaky right from the beginning of its tenure. It had to wade through very strong currents that hardly gave a chance for it to effectively take forward either its agenda and/or the fulfilment of the manifesto.

Despite the odds stacked against it, I would dare say that there was this sense of a good feeling that we are in a new world. Instead of BN’s parliament speakers, we had Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof.

With his effort in establishing various committees and his handling of the chair, the MACC's drive, and the political space, just to name a few, we had it a lot better than the Umno days.

Not just Mahathir but conspirators within Harapan were the main cause of its downfall. Where can we find a crystal ball that could have predicted that these conspirators were hell-bent on capitalising on the race and religious card so effectively waged by the then opposition?

Damn you do, damn you don't. It was not unusual for them to be passive or meek, the pillars in Harapan had to bid the time that they could bid farewell to Mahathir as PM but the conspirators had other ideas - with enough poison to drown the Harapan government.

What can you possibly do with strong currents against you? I, too, thought Mahathir was a changed man. If anyone hopes that less than two years is enough to undo the problems created by a corrupted and self-serving government, then there is nothing much to argue or reason out.

Harapan did not even have a full term. Its mandate was cruelly cut short by those who worked against the wishes of the majority who wanted a new hope for the country.

Yes, this may happen again and we have to brace for the upcoming duel. But this is not the time for experimenting. The opponents are strong and since returning to power without any mandate from the people, there is a clear pattern that has emerged - to change the character of this country.

So, this is not the time for us to do barters but to foist a very strong coalition that can at least give us a good starting point for a hopeful future. The rest may have to wait with just small characters in a major play.

Business First: Yes, Harapan did not perform as much as expected but they were betrayed from within and was inexperienced.

After a mere two years versus 60 years by BN, you (Vinod) come to the conclusion that they deserve no second chance despite having shown some decent administrative ability at the state level and competence in many ministries while in government?

Also, an analysis that all parties did "wrong" so none of them deserves our support oversimplifies matters.

A coalition that has infighting as to who should be PM is different from a coalition that allowed 1MDB and other scandals to happen and thrive, while another coalition was filled with incompetent opportunists and extremists.

Someone who scolds you is not at the same level as someone who robs and rapes the nation.

Instead, you want to give a hodge-podge of well-meaning activists the chance for government when no one really knows if they can even work together other than pontificate about broad principles.

Government means making hard and painful decisions. Not some lecture hall where you can theorise outcomes based on conceptual but untested principles. If this were so, communism would have been a resounding success instead of the dismal failure it has proven to be.

Man in the Silver Mountain: Resorting to independent candidates is wishful thinking, far detached from reality. It just would not work.

If it took 60 years for a Harapan coalition to oust Umno's grip on Malaysia, how much more will it take for independents to make a difference?

A realistic approach is still to understand the peculiarity of Malaysian politics and the effect of 60 years of Umno's brainwashing of the populace to follow their ideology.

Perhaps, at the heart of it all is a glimmer of hope that basically in our hearts there is goodness and reasonableness to know what’s right and wrong.

Racialism is wrong. Affirmative action is good but can go wrong because it can lead to abuse and therefore, corruption. People of power become greedy, as all humans are, and eventually begin to work for self-interest, to get want they want.

A realistic viewing of the political configuration today is that it is roughly made up of four distinct camps - BN, PN, Harapan and Mahathir’s Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) - the latter probably the most minimal.

If no coalition gets a clear majority, then there will be some horse trading to get a coalition among the coalitions to form the government. That is where mathematical permutation will come in.

The DAP is the only party now that sees this possibility and already they mooted this possibility publicly.

How we vote is up to us. Probably bottom line, we would not want a return to wholesale corruption as what has happened. If a new government can come with a clean transparent slate, that would be a desired change.

I am a Malaysian: I think it is not the time to talk about third force or independent politicians as there is no compelling reason to expect them to be able to save Malaysia in the context of our peculiar system of politics/government.

The more divisions we have in parliament/state assemblies, the more difficult it will be for MPs/assemblypersons to represent Malaysians with consensus.

It is better for us to choose a coalition whose manifesto best reflects the aspirations of us voters/Malaysians and this is where I think Harapan's equality for all Malaysians and emphasis on anti-corruption and progressive democratic ideals stand out above the rest.

Granted, Harapan when voted in might backtrack on its manifesto (for which Mahathir was infamous) but that is the risk we have to take, as this risk applies to all other coalitions too. - Mkini