YOURSAY | Harapan faces existential threat as political reset urged

YOURSAY | ‘Its new narrative must be principled, policy centred in order to appeal to the masses.’

Harapan needs a political reset, stop wasting time with PN - Guan Eng, Mat Sabu

IndigoTrout2522: First of all, why do DAP’s Lim Guan Eng and Amanah’s Mohamad 'Mat' Sabu need to issue a joint statement? The perception is that they are telling the world Pakatan Harapan wants a split.

What have they done to defeat the budget? What have they done to get majority support for Harapan? Why can’t they discuss all these issues internally?

This is not the first time, because they seem to love issuing statements in public. The best approach for Harapan is to hand the leadership over to a new generation of young leaders, and there are several in all three component parties.

Leave out former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who cannot be trusted, and Warisan president Shafie Apdal, who couldn’t even hold on to Sabah.

Remember, Shafie wrested power in Sabah at the 14th general election only through crossovers. Mahathir too had been trying to woo some Umno MPs and also went nowhere. Without PKR, Harapan would not succeed and that is a reality.

The DAP has a negative perception, though incorrect and unfair, as anti-Malay and anti-Islam and Amanah is still relatively a small party.

Mahathir is ever ready to stir the pot. He recently held a press conference with Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and then nothing happened either.

Kim Quek: Through their joint statement, Lim and Mat Sabu are obviously advocating the return of Mahathir to the Harapan fold.

But wasn’t Mahathir the culprit who sabotaged Harapan’s reform agenda, betrayed the Harapan coalition and directly caused its instant collapse through his sudden resignation?

So, what is the duo’s justification for embracing Mahathir again as their comrade? Wouldn’t their current action be looked upon as treasonous to Harapan?

Mahathir has already publicly declared PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim as his enemy No 1. And knowing that Mahathir is the kind of character who would only settle for No 1 position for himself, wouldn’t the duo’s suggestion be interpreted as their intention to ditch reformist icon Anwar in favour of treasonous Mahathir to lead Harapan again?

Many have accused Anwar of having lied when he claimed he had majority support. Considering Anwar’s illustrious record as the opposition icon for the past two decades, could Anwar really be that stupid as to cook up such an absurd cock and bull story?

How many realise that if the Agong had met Anwar promptly on Sept 22 as agreed, to receive his presentation of a solid majority, history could have been re-written?

To those Harapan leaders who vent their anger on Anwar for having failed to topple the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, may I ask: Has any Harapan leader done anything in that direction?

Isn’t it true that Anwar is the only brave soul who undertook the task and that his hitherto failure is not due to his fault but due to extraneous factor? Instead of vilifying Anwar as a failure, shouldn’t they be lauding him as their hero?

Anon25: Lim and Mat Sabu, instead of a reset, why not explore a new path? PN has to be defeated. You need help to procure the numbers. About five more will be enough to make Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's government fall.

So, this is my proposal: Let Razaleigh become the interim prime minister if he can get five or six Umno MPs to defect and join Harapan Plus. If this happens, this government will fall.

With the new majority and agreement on an interim prime minister, Razaleigh can then approach the Agong. With the Agong's approval, Muhyiddin will be asked to resign to make way for a smooth transition of power.

Razaleigh will hold that post until the next general election. Harapan Plus must also agree to let Anwar be nominated as the deputy prime minister until GE15.

Once PN falls, there will be a rush from other parties to join Harapan Plus. Let Razaleigh advise on who to accept. Because of Razaleigh, Umno may also wish to join as a party. Let them in if Razaleigh agrees. Umno can be cleaned up.

Lim and Mat Sabu, if you agree to this plan, Anwar and Shafie will, too. What about Mahathir then? I think he should be left out.

WhiteKnight7895: 1) Harapan and PKR, first of all, need new leadership, either Nurul Izzah Anwar or Rafizi Ramli.

2) DAP, PKR and Amanah must contest in all 222 seats and must come with a rock-solid strategy to ensure whoever the candidate is must be identified as a winnable candidate. The candidates must produce a clean bill of health as we do not wish to waste our valuable time and precious resources for by-elections.

3) Harapan must also explore to reach out to other opposition parties who shares the same ideology and core values. Otherwise, don't waste a single second and move on by canvassing its own candidate.

4) Ensure that Harapan component parties immediately obtain a signed and sealed agreement from all candidates contesting in GE15 once they are nominated to avoid any "frog issues" if the candidate wins.

Please state that if a candidate leaps then, the winning candidate must vacate the seat immediately and a by-election must be held by the Election Commission. Failing which, the party must immediately file a suit of RM100 million for breaching of agreement. Seek legal experts’ advice to ensure the agreement is airtight and cannot be disputed in the court of law.

5) Harapan cabinet members must be formed based on numbers of seats won by the parties to ensure sufficient representation. There must be a formula on appointments, and qualification cum experiences taken into consideration, for all posts for minister, deputy minister, GLCs and GOCs (government-linked and government-owned companies).

There should be strictly no appointments of any MPs in NGOs or foundations. An independent select committee comprising MPs from both the government and the opposition to be appointed as check and balance.

6) Once Harapan assumes control of Putrajaya, 50 percent of the priority pledges made in the manifesto must be immediately implemented within the first three months.

No excuses should be made to dilly dally as done previously. Don't just issue the instruction to whoever needs to do it or form useless committees, the minister or deputy minister in charge must execute and update the public on the progress.

If there is no progress, replace both of them immediately. There’s no need to waste time by giving a pep talk or time extensions if they are not moving their butts when it concerns the rakyat’s interests. The remaining 50 percent of the manifesto must be fulfilled within 18 months.

Unspin: Considering how complicated it is to reset (reboot) the opposition due to vested interests, I also would like to propose the following solution: Anwar, Lim, Mat Sabu, Shafie and Mahathir should follow the example of India’s Sonia Gandhi by declaring that they will not be holding any positions if Harapan Plus wins the next general election.

Instead, they will serve as advisers and mentors to groom a younger set of leaders to drive the country forward for the next generation and beyond.

To show that they meant business, PKR, DAP, Amanah, Warisan and Pejuang should get together to brainstorm a shadow cabinet comprising young leaders from all the component parties. In fact, they will be spoilt for choices.

A non-exhaustive list of candidates could be Mukhriz Mahathir, Rafizi, Nurul Izzah, Fahmi Fadzil, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, R Sivarasa, Anthony Loke, Gobind Singh Deo, Ong Kian Ming, Hannah Yeoh, Yeo Bee Yin, Tony Pua, M Kulasegaran, Khalid Samad, Dzulkefly Ahmad, Mujahid Yusof Rawa, Darell Leiking, Azis Jamman, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, etc.

This will certainly inspire hope for most Malaysians.

Raja Chulan: The bloc of the 108 MPs and their respective parties need a new narrative. This new narrative must be principle and policy centred in order to provide the required appeal to the masses.

There are many voters out there who do not subscribe to the PN parties (Umno, PAS, Bersatu or Sarawak’s GPS) ideology or policies, yet they do not support the opposition or Harapan simply because the opposition is in a state of disarray.

The present Harapan’s narrative of getting Umno traitors' support to form a new government where Anwar becomes the prime minister has so far been unsuccessful. This narrative is also one that is not based on any high moral ground.

As head of the opposition, Anwar had been given the opportunity but had not been successful. Anwar must admit this and therefore agree to the reset as requested by Lim and Mat Sabu.

The opposition needs the reset on two aspects, namely on the leadership aspect and the narrative aspect. On the leadership aspect, what we see in New Zealand, Canada and France seem appealing.

We need an entirely new and younger set of national leaders (only this will make the opposition different and appealing from the old and worn-out PAS, Umno, Bersatu and GPS).

Secondly, Malaysian voters are looking for a new narrative that will attend to the present challenges as regards to development and economy, education and race and religious unity.

The voters and the rakyat are all yearning for a change for the better. Can the opposition provide this narrative in the form of new ideas and policies?

Mohd Bakri 3: The real tragedy is that even though PN is a mess with backstabbing and infighting, the opposition cannot even consolidate their strength and fight back, but instead wanted to indulge in the same game as PN, hoping for statutory declarations and what-not.

This shows that Harapan itself is equally fractured and in a mess. If you want our votes again, then show us some leadership, some vision for the future of the country.

Otherwise, even if you win again, you will have infighting yet again, and this cycle will repeat and we the rakyat are sick and tired of our politicians keep on politicking to seize power.

BusinessFirst: I agree. It is obvious that Harapan is used as the bogeyman to extract concessions from Muhyiddin. They play off the desire of some in the Harapan leadership to get back into government or to be prime minister. I think this realisation is better late than never.

If Bersatu, PAS, Umno kleptocrats, GPS and Sabah potential frogs know that no matter what happens, Harapan will not work with them except on Harapan's terms, then in some ways it will be good for the country since Muhyiddin does not need to bend over backwards to dole out more and more goodies to keep loyalty at ever-increasing "price" demanded.

In the long term, it will harden the positions of those within PN as it is in the nature of things that Bersatu will want to remain dominant and undermine Umno and this will lead to dissension within their ranks.

Harapan should spend their time working on getting their act together and uniting.

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