Opposition has dissapointed many people

(Bernama) – Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin said Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim lost his credibility when he failed to fulfil his promise that the opposition pact would form the government on Sept 16, 2008.

Admitting that he was himself deceived, Raja Petra said the opposition leader had given him false hope when the blogger was detained in Kemunting, Perak, under the Internal Security Act.

“Anwar came to the court because there were two cases going on simultaneously and told me ‘don’t worry, you will be out soon because we are going to form the government on September 16′,” he said in an exclusive interview with TV3 group editor Datuk Ashraf Abdullah in Perth recently.

The second part of the interview was shown in Buletin Utama TV3 last night.

Raja Petra said the failure of the opposition grouping to form the government as promised by Anwar had demoralised their supporters.

Raja Petra said the opposition could not even form a shadow cabinet.

“If we cannot even form a shadow cabinet, how can we rule? Who are the cabinet members? The voters want to know,” he said.

He said that opposition leaders who had not shown their ability when outside the government cannot be expected to be capable administrators.

Raja Petra said that it was much easier to be in the opposition because no implementation was required.

“But when we become the government we have to carry out what we had criticised when we were the opposition,” he said.

Raja Petra said: “It is not so easy to criticise. Putting our words into action, that is more difficult. But if we fail even as an opposition, the people will certainly not trust us as a government.”

Thus, he said, Anwar has lost his credibility and failed as a leader.

Raja Petra said the empty promises that Anwar had been making, the endless crisis in the opposition  pact and his own personal problems were enough  for the people to assess  for themselves Anwar’s leadership.

In the opposition pact itself, Anwar was not respected, which gave rise to the question of how would he be able to lead the country, Raja Petra said.

“It seems that he cannot take care of component parties … and the leaders. The excuse he gives is freedom of expression, but this is not true because he acts against anyone who criticises him,” he said.

Raja Petra said the parties in the opposition could not unite because of differing ideologies.

He cited instances of clashes among the opposition partners over policies.

Raja Petra said Anwar was supposed to be the economic advisor to the Selangor government, but when there was heated disagreement over policy, he kept silent.

After three years in power in several states, the opposition pact can be assessed by the people, and many are disillusioned, Raja Petra said.

“Many people have told  me how disillusioned they are, that they no longer have confidence in the opposition,” he said.