Proarte:
Pakatan Harapan should now focus on campaigning wholeheartedly and
showing the rakyat they are serious about turning this country around
and come up with a realistic manifesto. There
must be no hint of squabbling over seats by PKR, DAP and Amanah. There
is no time to entertain PSM or Muda and their demands. They should be
told to go solo rather than hang on to the coattails of Harapan.
Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and his party Muda are
funded by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's cronies, so Harapan
really has to be wary of Muda. The Muar
seat can be won by PKR or DAP easily. Syed Saddiq should go and contest
in the rural heartlands where he can show his party, Muda, can bring
added value to the opposition.
What benefit is it to Harapan by
not contesting seats that it feels it can win purely because it wants to
please the egos of the leaders of Muda and PSM? If Muda and PSM
threaten to be "spoilers" if they do not get the ''easy'' seats they
are eyeing, then so be it and the attitude of Harapan should be "Bring
It On ".
Muda and PSM must show they have real support from the voting public by contesting independently because that is democracy. If we look at Sungai Siput
in 2018, S Kesavan of PKR won and garnered over 20,000 votes with K
Devamany of MIC getting around 15,000 votes, PAS 5,000 and the legendary
Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj of PSM losing his deposit and getting only 1,500
votes.
That was the democratic choice of the people of Sungai
Siput, but did that mean that Jeyakumar's contribution on an individual
basis was not recognised or valued by the people of Sungai Siput? No, it
did not.
The people of Sungai Siput were looking at the bigger
picture and merely supported the coalition Harapan which included PKR,
DAP, Amanah and Bersatu which PSM was not part of, whom they thought
would have a chance to get rid of former PM Najib Abdul Razak and
Umno-BN, which they did.
By trying to hang on to the coattails of
Harapan, Muda and PSM are showing they are willing to compromise their
party's principles and values purely to get seats which brings along
with it positions of power, a generous salary and financial security for
life in the form of pensions - it would be showing their true colours
as opportunistic politicians who are self-serving.
