THE prevalence of superhero movies these years, which culminates in superheroes teaming up to form an alliance, had an effect of popularising the idea of different heroes with vastly different abilities, backgrounds, ideologies and even ambitions to unite for a common good or against a greater evil that a single hero is unable to vanquish.

This perhaps explains why movies such as Avengers or Justice League are box office guarantees. Viewers are inadvertently stirred with all kinds of emotions when they are treated to the scene where earth’s mightiest heroes came together despite their vastly different personalities to defeat the galactic tyrant Thanos.

As social beings, we are by default attracted to the idea of seeking allies if the cause we are striving is not a solitary road. After all, what is a better story than the defeat of an indomitable enemy by the combined efforts of various talented but flawed individuals?   

But reality is always stranger than fiction, never mind if we are talking about the political realm as convoluted as Malaysia. Senator Liew Chin Tong has recently mooted that the opposition should strive for the leadership of Avengers, but isn’t the idea of a Pakatan Harapan (PH) grand coalition mirrors the formation of a superheroes team like Avengers?

In both scenarios, the “heroes” are all individually talented but flawed in some ways. While DAP’s ability to win in Chinese areas remain unrivalled but the heavy distrust by Malays renders them incapable of winning any election by themselves.

The same somewhat applies to PKR and Amanah, too – both parties are still electorally incapable to win alone, never mind governing alone.

It is under such circumstances that PH has previously colluded with Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Bersatu with the sole intention of bringing down Najib Razak’s indomitable regime at that time.

So how is that any different with Captain America and Ironman teaming up while seeking other allies in wanting to defeat Thanos? Was the recent statement by Liew testing the waters of another possible cooperation with Umno who happens to have the common goal of taking down Muhyiddin Yassin and his Bersatu now?

The problem with the “team of superheroes” alliance in politics is that it is merely a good template to follow whenever there is an election, but electoral alliance or pact goes beyond elections.

Unlike superheroes movies where the assumption that peace or a fairy-tale ending will ensue once the enemy is defeated, politics does not cease when the opponent is defeated electorally, because the victors are now expected to govern, which might prove to be the more insurmountable task than winning an election. 

Therefore, it is paramount for political alliances to come up with a common policy framework to avoid unnecessary clash of opinions when you are in charge.

No citizens would relish a government that cannot even govern itself or govern without discipline. Regrettably, the PH manifesto, which is the only piece of document that binds together the PH coalition, was soon discredited by the PH prime minister Dr Mahathir himself, and no wonder the trust within the coalition was in serious decline after that, which culminates into the collapse of the government through internal power struggle. 

Chances are the PH coalition could have survived all this if it remained steadfast to the manifesto and the agreement that Dr Mahathir would only be in power for two years.

My criticism of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in this column has been well documented but having said that, it is also unfair and disingenuous from some PH MPs to be holding a moral high ground right now and disapprove of Anwar trying to gain the support of Umno during the next election.

The MPs are insisting that any cooperation with PH must have a shared value system and they believe that Umno does not possess those values. Yet these were the same MPs who had previously welcomed former Umno rebels like Dr Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin, Mukhriz Mahathir and Mohd Shafie Apdal.

These MPs never once apologised to the people for the abrupt resignation of Dr Mahathir and the exodus of Muhyiddin Yassin that has led to the political instability that we now face.

There is no difference between Anwar’s preliminary discussion with Umno and PH’s overtures with Dr Mahathir’s faction during 2016. For each of the two scenarios are premised upon the idea of defeating an enemy that they have been incapable of defeating single-handedly.

And if the cooperation is based on the previous arrangement where the focus was only about winning elections but not committed to seeing the manifestos being realised, then the next change of government would be a repeat of PH’s tumultuous 22 months. – March 21, 2021.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.