Pakatan Harapan losing the perception war
(The Coverage) – With the announcement of the marriage of PAS and Umno after secretly dating during the run-up to the general election last year as well as in several by-elections since, they are now “halal” as husband and wife. I leave it to the readers to figure out which is the husband and which is the wife.
When I wrote not long ago urging Pakatan Harapan (PH) to have dialogues with MCA, my call fell on deaf ears, as the leadership thinks it is sitting on a rock solid crown.
While PPBM was thinking of itself by enticing MPs with questionable integrity, Umno and PAS were preparing their extremist narratives.
Now, Umno and PAS will secure the loyalties of MCA, MIC and Gerakan by simply dropping the call to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (RUU355) and everything will be hunky dory.
That RUU355 was a ruse all along was never doubted. It was to create sympathy votes for PAS and Umno and now that they have secured them, it is time to bury that useful act of strategic political misdirection.
If their members ask why, the answer will be “trust your Tok Gurus for they know best because they are the representatives of the Prophet”.
Kudos to Umno and PAS for this masterful act of playing to the gullible Malays and their fears of “Islam under threat” and “Malays left behind” narratives.
Who is to blame? What should the citizenry decide?
Some PH leaders who want to secure the two top posts had broken PH by siding with the smallest and youngest member of the coalition. It looks like PPBM will be the Big Guy but now the egg is on their faces as PAS-Umno alongside a rejuvenated BN alliance may sail through the next general election.
This new alliance will not give the time of day to PPBM. PPBM has lost its power to the new alliance. How do I know this?
The opposition’s Malay vote bank never budged an inch and they may be taking in some more Malay voters. The non-Malay voters who are disgusted with PH dancing to Malay issues will simply not come to the ballot box.
I do not foresee any chance of PH being in government very long and I think the ministers should just pack up their bags.
The next general election may be closer than we think. Maybe even by the end of this year.
Once the realignment of forces fall into place, then the dice will be rolled and if the Sabah and Sarawak MPs think with their pockets, then that is when it will happen.
Sorry Malaysians, but we are looking at the dark roads of corruption, extremism, bigotry and stupidity in a new government, at an unprecedented scale that will bankrupt this nation both economically and socially.
With religious clerics who think their place in heaven is assured, we are in for a terrible and nauseating ride of book ban and hate speech, to the point that some minority groups would find it better to live in a more rational environment.
If PH plays to the Malay gallery, it will be defeated. PH cannot counter the “Islam under threat” narrative because they are not fighting a ground battle. Worse, PH will be seen to be weak by dancing to the tunes of PAS-Umno.
But the most important reason is that non-Malays will never vote for PH again. They will not vote for the PAS-Umno alliance and so they will stay away, giving the Malays all the voting power to usher in the new PAS-Umno government, perhaps an Islamic state in Malaysia minus hudud.
If, however, PH can fulfil all in its manifesto, then non-Malays and the youth will come out in droves to vote them in and fight off the PAS-Umno alliance.
PH must play up the extremist PAS narrative to the Sabahans and Sarawakians to reject any party working for them. With a mere 10% Malay support, this can be done but it has to be done now.
But will PH do this? It won’t because it is locked in a leadership struggle and nothing can be done until some resolution comes forth.
What can Malaysians do?
They are ready to quiet down all the criticism of PH if it deploys its strength to fulfil what it promised. No two ways about it.
If PPBM thinks it can dictate policy by working with PAS and Umno, it will soon find itself stripped naked and left in the pouring rain.
PAS and Umno are now so strong and with MCA and MIC chipping at the non-Malay votes, they do not need a young untried party as their partner. PAS and Umno will not settle for anything less than the crown.
The clock is ticking. PH must decide or else lose the fight once and for all.
The people will be jilted if PH does not find the courage to act now. I also hate to say that people are powerless to change the inevitable march of PAS-Umno to Putrajaya.
I am often never pessimistic but this time I have run out of room on my chess board for any other move.
