COMMENT | Harapan should welcome GE15

“Every election is determined by the people who show up.”

- Larry J Sabato, Pendulum Swing

COMMENT | Make no mistake; the upcoming general election is a reckoning. A reckoning for Umno. A reckoning for Pakatan Harapan and yes, a reckoning for the voting demographic here in Malaysia.

What we are really talking about here is the future of a fractured political landscape and the various permutations and alliances that will determine if this country totters off the democratic ledge and plunges into the stupor of theocracy.

These pleas to emotion about how the monsoon season is an impediment to the democratic process are complete horse manure.

All over the world, people who are living under far worse conditions have come out to vote because they truly believed that their futures were at stake.

They have come out to vote against totalitarian regimes (left and right) to ensure the survival of not only the democratic process but also ensure that the future is maybe just a little bit brighter than what it is.

Yes, Umno is hoping that holding elections now would mean a lower voter turnout that would benefit them.

Yes, Umno is hoping that holding elections now would enable them to win even a simple majority, to redefine the judicial and political landscape that in turn would see the rise of a theocratic/kleptocratic class of political operatives who would need even less of the multicultural fig leaf that defines the current political landscape.

What we are dealing with when it comes to Umno, PAS, Bersatu, Pejuang and its assortments of proxies and allies which include the “non-bumiputera” component of the fictitious social contract is...