Perikatan Nasional: on self-destruct mode
Muhyiddin will need to look into his weak media team and decide what they hope to achieve. It is apparent that Saifuddin — who prefers to layan the civil society movements — is not the man for the job. Saifuddin should resign and set up an NGO instead of being put in charge of winning elections. Or maybe Saifuddin can be appointed as DAP’s new Chairman.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Pakatan Harapan is facing a dilemma and its recent zig-zagging demonstrates it is still struggling to find the correct “direction”. There are many permutations or formulas which Pakatan Harapan can adopt pre-GE15 and post-GE15, but none are without some sort of flaw.
And the way Pakatan Harapan is moving, it looks like the plan for pre-GE15 and the plan for post-GE15 are two different plans. Pakatan Harapan may be forced to play the deception game like it did in GE14 — meaning declare something pre-GE14 and declare something else post GE-14.
The Pakatan Harapan general election manifesto is one example. Pre-GE14, Pakatan Harapan made all sorts of promises, and post-GE14 they confessed that the promises were unrealistic and would be impossible to deliver — and that the impressive election manifesto was merely for intentions of vote baiting.
Pakatan Harapan’s plan for pre-GE15 is to have an unofficial or secret electoral pact with the anti-Muhyiddin Yassin group, in particular Umno’s “court cluster”. Basically, Pakatan Harapan and the anti-Muhyiddin group will try to avoid three-corner contests or “overlapping” of seats between Pakatan Harapan and Umno and engage Perikatan Nasional in direct contests.
The secret pact between Anwar and the Umno court cluster is for real and is on — even though it is being denied
If this works, it will involve merely the Malay-majority seats and in the Chinese-majority seats it will be “business as usual”.
They do not expect much change in voter sentiments in the Chinese-majority seats because the non-Malay voters will vote DAP come what may. DAP may have made quite a number of “mistakes” since GE14 (even committed crimes such as corruption), but the non-Malays are prepared to close their eyes to all these transgressions merely because a “damaged” DAP is better than no DAP at all.
READ MORE HERE: Dr Mahathir On Zahid, Anwar, Najib, Muhyiddin And Azmin
Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional are going to be the three main blocs to take into consideration. The question is, which bloc will the Sabah and Sarawak parties be with — because, with 25% of the parliament seats, they are for certain the kingmakers.
In West Malaysia, Barisan Nasional (meaning Umno) will be the kingmaker. But Umno is divided between some wanting to be with Anwar Ibrahim and some wanting to be with Muhyiddin Yassin. According to Anwar’s inner circle, the deal between Anwar and Umno’s court cluster (in particular Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Najib Tun Razak) is for real and is on.
GE15 is going to be nothing short of chaos. Never before has any general election been wrought with so much uncertainty. There are so much discussions and secret deals going on behind the scenes but no one really knows what is going to happen in the end.
DAP is worried that Anwar’s pact with the Umno court cluster may upset the non-Malay voters
DAP is extremely unhappy with Anwar and PKR (in spite of declaring that Anwar is Pakatan Harapan’s candidate for PM9). They know the deal between Anwar, Zahid and Najib is going to upset those who support DAP on the basis that they oppose a “kleptocrat government”.
So how can DAP make a deal with the same “kleptocrats” whom they kicked out in GE14? How to explain DAP’s lack of principles for working with the “Umno kleptocrats”?
It is a dilemma for both DAP as well as for Umno — because Umno’s “strength” is the danger that DAP’s poses to the Malays. But if DAP is no longer a danger to the Malays, then why do they need Umno to protect them from DAP?
Pakatan Harapan’s and the anti-Muhyiddin group in Umno’s only hope is to use the “Perikatan Nasional Kerajaan Gagal” or “failed government” theme — just how the 1MDB issue was used to bring down Umno and Barisan Nasional in GE14. And, judging by the dissatisfaction on the ground, this approach appears to be working.
Pakatan Harapan’s (as well as the anti-Muhyiddin group in Umno’s) main “asset” is Saifuddin Abdullah, the Minister of Communications and Multimedia. Saifuddin is doing such a miserable job that sometimes you wonder which side he is on. The impression you get is Saifuddin is Anwar’s “secret agent” whose job is to sabotage Perikatan Nasional from the inside.
The “Perikatan Nasional Kerajaan Gagal” propaganda is succeeding mainly because Malaysians are not being told what the government is doing (or are not being told the positive-successful things the government is doing).
Saifuddin should get out of politics and head an NGO or become DAP’s new Chairman
Hence, while the opposition plus the anti-Muhyiddin group in Umno is doing their negative campaign, no counter-campaign is being waged to address the lies, fake news and negative perception towards the government. For some reason only known to him, Saifuddin refuses to fight back.
Najib, Umno and Barisan Nasional fell in GE14 for the same reason why Muhyiddin, Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional might fall in GE15. And if Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah is allowed to continue on this self-destruct mode, then Perikatan Nasional will be ousted not because Pakatan Harapan is strong but because Perikatan Nasional is weak.
Muhyiddin will need to look into his weak media team and decide what they hope to achieve. It is apparent that Saifuddin — who prefers to layan the civil society movements — is not the man for the job. Saifuddin should resign and set up an NGO instead of being put in charge of winning elections. Or maybe Saifuddin can be appointed as DAP’s new Chairman.
