Enough of senseless politicking. Ready for a third force?

By admin-s Last updated Aug 7, 2014

Just exactly where are their policymakers and what they had promised to fight for in the last general election?

Victor Wong, The Ant Daily

While the Umno-dominated ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) is busy playing the divisive racial and religious card, its rivals in Pakatan Rakyat are doing no better with their endless politicking. The hopes of the people for effective checks and balances are fast evaporating.

PKR, DAP and PAS are now tussling with one another almost every day on who among them should take precedence, threatening to tear the coalition apart. Have Pakatan leaders forgotten how should they run their state governments and show the people that they can be refreshingly different from BN?

Just exactly where are their policymakers and what they had promised to fight for in the last general election? There are still many outstanding issues and where matters have been attended to there were no regular follow-ups to ensure closure.

Following the 2008 general election, a reasonable quota of local council appointments was given to civil societies and fraternal parties by Pakatan. However, the quotas were slowly taken away on grounds of poor performance by these NGO representatives. But the truth is they fell victim to power-hungry politicians who were out to grab all in the local councils.

The promise to hold local council elections if Pakatan was elected to power has yet to be fulfilled. It is understood that the Penang and Selangor Pakatan-led state governments had initiated some measures to restore local council elections in the early stage but there have been no conclusive follow-ups. By mid-2013, Pakatan was seen as no longer taking a strong stand on local council elections. Thus, the restoration of the third vote is slowly fading away.

Just as Umno and BN have been very offensive on racial and religious issues, Pakatan leaders have been on the defensive mode, responding to every allegation made by Umno and BN leaders against them.

While Pakatan leaders have a right to defend themselves, they have been distracted by BN’s political attacks. Pakatan leaders should be focusing on public policies so that the people are aware of their governing advantages and their check-and-balance activities at the federal level.

Another Pakatan initiative which has suffered in the midst of intense politicking is the promise of parliamentary reforms, including obtaining recognition for the institution of a shadow cabinet by the opposition bench. It seems this important agenda of the opposition front has been put on the back burner.

Pakatan’s position has been complicated by the mess created by the decision to replace Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, sparked by the so-called “Kajang Move” last year.

Amid talk and the subsequent endorsement of PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to succeed Khalid as menteri besar, PKR, DAP and PAS are engaged in a kind of “civil war”, giving the public an impression that Pakatan is heading for a break-up.

Not surprisingly, Umno, MCA and Gerakan suddenly voiced their support for Khalid to remain as MB. Are these BN parties sincere in their support for Khalid or are they doing this out of political convenience?

This is the worst politicking we have ever seen. Both sides of the political divide have lost focus and are spending too much energy on matters which side-tracking them from their real responsibilities to the people and nation. Both sides seem to be fighting for political survival.