Opposition short on intelligent members, says Gerakan leader

Asila Jalil Noel Achariam Asila Jalil, Noel Achariam Updated 5 years ago · Published on 9 Jun 2018 1:07PM · 7 Comments

Gerakan deputy Youth chief Andy Yong Kim Seng says BN leaders are suffering from a credibility deficit with the people. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, June 9, 2018.

THE opposition doesn’t need a loudmouth like Jamal Yunos to keep the government of the day in check, said Gerakan deputy Youth chief Andy Yong Kim Seng. 

He said that what it needed now was someone with intelligence and knowledge to counter opponents with facts and figures. 

“I’m very impressed with Liew Chin Tong (former Kluang MP) and Rafizi Ramli (former Pandan MP). 

“They worked so hard throughout the years and have read up on how to become an effective opposition. I’ve never seen this from the BN side,” he said. 

Yong was referring to the Red Shirts leader, whose inflammatory remarks had spiked racial tensions.

After police reports lodged against him, the Sungai Besar Umno division chief has skipped bail and is on the run.

Jamal was charged with public nuisance after he smashed beer bottles at the Selangor State Secretariat office last year. 

Yong said that he wanted to see Barisan Nasional, led by Umno, provide alternatives to every policy Pakatan Harapan moots in parliament.

Parliament will convene on July 16. However, there will be no Gerakan presence as it was wiped out at the federal and state levels.

Yong also said that he did not have high hopes for the new opposition.

“I’m sceptical about these people. How many of them actually study bills when they’re tabled in parliament? 

“How many of them scrutinised the budget and understood it?”

On Umno and PAS working together, Yong said this could create a dichotomy between politics and religion. 

He said that because Islamisation is at the core of PAS’ ideology, Umno would have no choice but to accept it if it wanted to collaborate. 

“If they collaborate, it would be a dysfunctional democracy and that is unhealthy,” said Yong. 

Another issue affecting the opposition, he said, was that BN leaders were suffering from a credibility deficit with the people. 

“People are still focusing on the previous government or former prime minister Najib Razak’s shortcomings and failings. 

“In social media, we are being  shot down, no matter what we do or what we say. We are being treated as corrupted leaders.

“As the opposition, we need to overcome this deficit before we can even talk about becoming an effective opposition, otherwise we won’t go far.” – June 9, 2018.

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Comments

  • Yes, I agree with you. BN n PAS got no intelligent people at helm at the moment. All of the present set of leaders had proven themselves skewed, corrupted, tainted, religious bigots, troublemakers, racists, disrespectful to women, vulgar,....you name it, they got it. So, there is no hope with the present leaders to be an effective Opposition. In fact, they may cause more trouble n keep on instigating racial n religious tensions.
    It's better all the present set of leaders resign. Let younger caliber people take over the leadership, if they have such people. If not, then, better to close down

    Posted 5 years ago by Peace Maker · Reply

  • Don't you need to worry. PKR is going down the same path. Previously, many smart members were purged because they were seen as threats to Anwar or Azmin. Like UMNO (well, they are ex-UMNO), they prefer loyal supporters rather than smart supporters so their leaders kept getting stupider and stupider down the line (similar to how Tun commented about UMNO).

    Posted 5 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply

  • We must give our thanks to jamal jamban for sinking umno & BN. He is umno poster-boy - samseng politic, crude, rude, garbage. Not forgetting garbage politician similar to him like Bung monyet kinabatangan, Tajuddin taik itek, Ibrahim ali katak - this group of garbage - helps kill umno

    Posted 5 years ago by Chris Ng · Reply

  • Andy, I m sorry to concur with you that many in BN do not care a damn abt anything except that their pockets are FULL.

    Posted 5 years ago by Zureen ariff · Reply

  • Loudmouth like Jamal Yunos is the heart and soul of UMNO support. If there are people who are really intelligent and articulate who leads them - then those leaders are dangerous snakes that deserves to be wiped out.

    The issue is not whether there are intellgient articulate people in UMNO, there are. The issue is who YMNO Baru is, its origin, its real identity and purpose. Tunku Abdul Rahman called them "pencuri lampu ajaib" and after squandering what they stole, they still refuse to admit their origin, still claiming their origin are those they stole from when even those that did the original stealing have rejected them. They are progeny of pencuri lampu gone wrong. They must seek redemption of their origin not deny them.

    If your father was a thief and you an even worst thief that got caught, what do you do? You have to look for a new life, proof where you come from does not define you. Proof that you can be something else..

    Posted 5 years ago by Bigjoe Lam · Reply

  • "I'm sceptical about these people. How many of them actually study bills when they're tabled in parliament? How many of them scrutinised the budget and understood it?" said Yong. Why did he not say this before when one bill after another was hurriedly passed in parliament before GE14? It is difficult to imagine an UMNO with a halo secretly taking in RM2.6b in donations in the form of handbags, gold bars and hundreds of million in foreign currencies

    Posted 5 years ago by Roger 5201 · Reply

  • Exactly. No brains while in government, lost at sea after being kicked out. The learning curve is flat near the beginning and the people expects you guys to pick up the rate rather quickly from now on. Argue on facts, don't be barking dogs. You will eventually earn the respect of the masses.

    Posted 5 years ago by Shovel Nose · Reply