The 13th General Election will witness multi-corner contest

Todate, the third force has not pinpointed to where the PR government has gone wrong in the four states they are currently ruling. They did not provide any concrete criticism in the manner the state governments are running or how the state government could do a better job, which it supposedly has failed.

By A. Tanasekharan (State assemblyman for Bagan Dalam, Penang)

The 13th general election will no longer witness straight fights between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat. On the other hand we will witness multi corner fights with BN, MCLM, HRP, KITA, SAPP, SNAP vs Pakatan Rakyat.

HRP is hell bent to defeat all Indian candidates from Pakatan Rakyat whom they have termed as mandores. By so doing they are not going to win but will allow BN to win. As for KITA, its number 1 enemy is Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and PKR and it is working to defeat them; and its President sounds more like an UMNO man. MCLM has its own list of candidates which it believes is better than the Pakatan Rakyat’s candidates or at least better than those who have jumped ship and they also want their candidates to win.

Now, the MCLM argues that we need a third force for the people to choose. They probably got the idea from the results of the polls in England. In England a two party system has been in existence for years and it is very well rooted. So they could afford the luxury of a third force.

In Malaysia, the two party system of government has not got started yet. We have been ruled by one single collusion since independence. We are just seeing some light after the 2008 political tsunami. We hope that the 13th general election will give Malaysians for the first time a choice of an alternative government. Would Malaysians want to miss this golden opportunity and allow Barisan Nasional to continue to rule until another tsunami comes and that will probably take another 50 years?

Todate, the third force has not pinpointed to where the PR government has gone wrong in the four states they are currently ruling. They did not provide any concrete criticism in the manner the state governments are running or how the state government could do a better job, which it supposedly has failed. Why then would we need a third force for? If the performance of the PR governments in the four states are worse then the previous BN government, then we would probably need a third force to replace  them. So what is the basis of their complaints?

Do these third force leaders know that if they join in the fray and contest the general election it will be detrimental to Pakatan Rakyat and Najib will happily sail back to Putrajaya leaving the third force and PR to blame each other.

I am sure that the third force leaders know the consequences of a 3 corner fight. Rather than threatening PR, why can’t they talk. Why don’t they have direct negotiations. PR is not just PAS, DAP & PKR, they have a partner Parti Socialis Malaysia (PSM). If PSM can work with PR I am sure PR can accommodate the third force.

PR is also not just about Datuk Sri Anwar Ibrahim. There are other many talented leaders. Even if DSAI loses his case, the third force need not be worried. PR leaders can handle the situation. Datuk Nizar Jamaludin, before he became the Mentri Besar of Perak he was an unknown. After he became the Menteri Besar the Perakians love him. If a person like Najib can be a Prime Minister, PR has a better pool of leaders for the job.

However, if the third force still wants to contest which is their right to do so, the message Malaysians must give in the coming general election is that we do not want a third force but a two party system and give Pakatan Rakyat a resounding victory.