One-on-one fights not enough to defeat BN, says DAP man
(Malaysiakini) – It is insane for the opposition to continue to solely focus on the same age-old tactics of forming a single bloc and ensuring one-on-one electoral fights to defeat BN, says DAP.
Its national political education director Liew Chin Tong said beating BN was a Herculean task for Pakatan Harapan and hence, it must not take short-cuts by playing the game the BN way.
“Some opine that the opposition should just form a single bloc again to contest the next general election on a one-to-one basis against BN.
“But is this what the voters want to see? Will the next general election be decided only on the basis of one-to-one contests against BN?
“Albert Einstein once said that ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’. We must ask ourselves what do the voters really want and not what the politicians and pundits want,” he said in a statement today.
He said the tipping point lay not in simply engaging the BN in one-to-one electoral fights or as a single opposition bloc, but in engaging the rakyat and re-writing the Malaysian political story.
“Surely, to defeat Umno-BN is a Herculean task. The institutional biases are set against the opposition from the onset.
“The rules of the game are set by Umno-BN, and they are the referees, and the goalposts are always changed to suit their interests. We all know that from day one,” said Liew.
He added that it was time to ask some hard questions, create a reinvigorated opposition with clear policies and generate a new wave of political uprising among Malaysians.
Liew said that to beat BN – “the master of the politics of race and religion” – the opposition must have better and more inspiring answers than the ruling coalition on a number of issues.
Among the issues he cited are education, economy, jobs, income, banking, housing, transport, healthcare, ICT, semi-urban development, rural infrastructure, and local governance.
Liew pointed out that ordinary Malaysians want better education for their children; better jobs; food on the table; better cities, towns and village and to live better lives unburdened by too much debt.
He said Haparan must articulate all these aspirations if it wants to improve its chances against the BN.
“These areas of concerns are often ignored by the media because they are less sensational than race and religious issues. Often, the opposition also has not developed clear positions on such issues,” Liew said.
For the opposition to move ahead and build a better Malaysia, he said, “we should not look for short-cuts as the voters would see through us”.
