13th General Election: It’s BN to Lose
Pakatan cannot continue to count on BN or UMNO’s weaknesses to chalk up electoral victories. It is time for the newly minted coalition to face its own raison d’etre.
By Khoo Kay Peng
It is unfortunate that PM Najib is still fiddling with his NEM. He wants to do something good for the nation but is too afraid of doing so. Making the right change means having to take on the conservative forces in the country.
His reluctance to take on these forces to ensure a smooth implementation of his plan and vision is going to ensure the failure of NEM and other similar policies. By giving enough space to these forces to build up resistance to his plan and vision will hardened their opposition and weakened his own political will to do the right thing.
By giving in to a group such as Perkasa is going to win BN/Umno a lot of support. The competition for Malay support has reached its saturation point. BN will at most enjoy 55% to 65% the community’s support.
Another point which the PM has failed to notice is the growing political awareness of the community. Talk about defending Malay rights and supremacy is not as easy to sell as previously. Despite the talk, UMNO has not been able to answer why the community has remained backward and why the policy only enriched a selected few – mostly sons, daughters and relatives of politicians and leaders in the party/coalition. Sarawak’s Taib family is a classic example.
His wishy-washy policy direction or a lack of it has courted many critics:
On NEM, Pakatan de-facto chief Anwar said, “As along as the government does not develop a system of governance that is just, corruption-free and instills confidence, the country will continue to lose the attention of foreign investors.”
NEM is only a tip of the iceberg. The administration has failed to address many issues concerning the nation’s education system, declining competitiveness, net outflow of investment, lack of new economic attraction, and others.
The world economic crisis is far from over. But we have not heard or read any policy response or initiative from the government. NEP, GTP and others are mere political responses to the ongoing contestation between Pakatan and BN.
Hence, this is why I said that the 13th general election is for BN to lose.
While Pakatan leaders have been critical of BN or Najib’s lack of direction and political will to make the necessary changes, what have Pakatan achieved?
What can the newly minted coalition offer to counter Najib’s NEM or GTP?
Pakatan cannot continue to count on BN or UMNO’s weaknesses to chalk up electoral victories. It is time for the newly minted coalition to face its own raison d’etre.
Read more at: http://khookaypeng.blogspot.com/2010/09/13th-general-election-its-bn-to-lose.html
