DISUNITY among members of the opposition coalition has always been an advantage to Barisan Nasional, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad who urged Pakatan Harapan to present a united front to win the next elections.
“You must support whatever candidate that is finally chosen (to contest in the 14th general election) and not fight among yourselves. You must set aside your differences in order to save the country from the rule of robbers and thieves.
“I’ve been in politics for a long time. There have been 13 general elections and the opposition has never won. BN has 13 component parties and they all focus their attention on their candidates.
He said even Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s Semangat 46 returned to Umno after realising it could not create a united front with DAP and PAS to defeat the BN government.
“During Anwar’s (Anwar Ibrahim) time, during Keadilan, he tried to form a three-party coalition. Their performance was better but they could not defeat BN.
“I am of the opinion that if we want to defeat BN, the main issue is unity. Don’t think of your own components. Think of the coalition. We need to support the candidates regardless of the party they are from.
“This time, the unity is better and I never expected to be appointed as chairman. They accepted me as chairman and as chairman, I see unity is better. It is not 100% perfect, but it is better than Pakatan Rakyat. I am confident this time we can defeat BN,” the former prime minister said.
Amanah vice-president Husam Musa said the opposition coalition should quickly choose a prime minister candidate to improve its chances of winning the 14th general election.
Husam, a former PAS vice-president, said the topic of a prime minister candidate was “taboo” in Pakatan Rakyat.
“None of the leaders then was willing to step forward with suggestions… But now in Pakatan Harapan we can discuss the matter.
“Without a candidate for prime minister, we don’t have the confidence of certain segments of society who would otherwise back us. There are parts of society right now that have reservations because we don’t have a candidate.
In a PH retreat earlier this month, except for PKR, the other Pakatan coalition parties - DAP, Amanah and Bersatu had agreed to Dr Mahathir as interim prime minister and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as deputy prime minister if it wins GE14.
The opposition is expected to name its candidate for prime minister soon. – December 10, 2017.
Comments
Posted 6 years ago by Chris Ng · Reply
Posted 6 years ago by Lee Lee · Reply
The Opposition is better called Pakatan Bankrap. The efforts to unseat Najib is the people's struggle, now hikacked by and unrepentant despot. Sudahlah. 22 tahun dah cukup, this is not your fight anymore. You can make amends with your maker.
Posted 6 years ago by Ju bur · Reply
Auden said what he said in 1939, when world war 2 seemed imminent.
The world truly must have looked like it was about to end when Auden said it.
Dr. Mahathir on the other hand Says it in the face of a General Election - where people have the choice between two sides that don’t appear to be that different from each other. As a matter of fact, many of the people on Dr.m own side actually came from the side that he is opposing . Can people really be blamed if thinking that nothing really that can come from basically the same people , which to tell you the truth , is what is going to happen regardless of who wins the next election.
And unlike world war 2, where things really was a matter of life and death to millions of people, the outcome of ge14 is unlikely to effect the lives of that many people. Maybe it will effect the Fates of najib or wan Azizah or dr.m or lim guan eng or Anwar or mukhriz or Muhyiddin , but for the vast majority of Malaysians or even grassroot party members, nothing much is going to change. I honestly think malaysians are going to continue experiencing the decline that Malaysians has been experiencing in the Last decade regardless of who wins.
It’s do or die is nice soundbite, but i hardly think that it is going reach that many people’s heart, considering the times and circumstances that we are in
Posted 6 years ago by Nehru Sathiamoorthy · Reply
Posted 6 years ago by Mangkuk Hayun · Reply