“Muda’s decision to negotiate and agree upon seat allocations with the DAP and AMANAH didn’t just puzzle me, it puzzled many people I know and may be a blunder the newly minted, youth-centric party may never recover from”
Note: The content of this particular article is my personal view as a political observer
Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen
راماي كليرو دڠن ڤرسفهمن مودا-ڤه
Muda’s decision to negotiate and agree upon seat allocations with the DAP and AMANAH didn’t just puzzle me, it puzzled many people I know and may be a blunder the newly minted, youth-centric party may never recover from.
The decision, made public via a joint press conference, saw DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman announcing that the move was to ensure there were no clashes between the three parties.
Despite making it known that the agreement was purely to ensure Barisan Nasional’s defeat, MUDA’s choice of an alliance has left much to be desired.
The thing is, Pakatan Harapan is currently facing its worst ever support deficit, and some even argue that the support it now enjoys is worse than the support Pakatan Rakyat enjoyed post GE13 (13th General Election).
The coalition is deemed party to government, following a Memorandum of Understanding it inked with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri.
It is this MoU that is keeping the otherwise flimsy, tumultuous and fragile establishment afloat, an establishment Pakatan Harapan itself has deemed a complete failure.
The funny thing is, the MoU was designed primarily to prevent elections, until such a time that the nation’s health crisis comes under control.
However, not only did Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim have no qualms when the Melaka State Assembly was dissolved, he went so far as to praise the four state assemblymen who helped destabilise the state government.
Today, even the Prime Minister does not seem to mind an election in Johor and made no effort whatsoever to seek an audience with the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong to ask for the Proclamation of Emergency in the state.
So why the MoU if not for political expediency?
Obviously, Pakatan Harapan and the Court Cluster aren’t ready to face a general election just yet, and sources indicate that the primary reason for this has to do with fear that a “Third Force” block may steal the election.
I am told, Pakatan Harapan and the Court Cluster are also afraid of MUDA’s emergence as a potential component to the “Third Force,” given that voters aged 18 to 21 are more than likely to opt for the new party.
According to some sources, Zahid’s camp has finally come to an agreement with Anwar, the terms of which dictate that Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan should enter the 15th general election as rivals and decide later if they want to team up.
Accordingly, should Barisan Nasional win more seats than Pakatan Harapan, and if the two coalitions do end up working together, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will be the first choice as Prime Minister (assuming that he can contest), followed by Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who will be the second choice (assuming he wins a parliamentary seat).
Conversely, should Pakatan Harapan win more seats than Barisan Nasional, Anwar will be the Prime Minister candidate.
I can’t single-handedly verify if all this is true, but can assure you that if I were Anwar, Najib or Zahid, this is precisely what I would do (I’ll explain why at a later date).
Anyway, let’s assume that the deal is real and that it is finalised.
So, if Pakatan Harapan and the Court Cluster want to trigger an early general election but are afraid of MUDA and the “Third Force” block, the next best thing to do would be to ‘neutralise’ the block, right?
This is probably why they’re forging ahead with the Johor state election.
While Pakatan Harapan works to lure MUDA and WARISAN, Barisan Nasional is concentrating on weakening Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s grip on his home state, hoping that this will demoralise Perikatan Nasional supporters ahead of the 15th general election.
So far, MUDA has responded positively, and rumour has it that a ‘certain’ someone in PKR convinced Anwar to ‘temporarily’ distance his party from the DAP and AMANAH, so as to increase the chances of MUDA entering a deal with Pakatan Harapan.
The thing is, even if MUDA now argues that the deal is aimed purely at ensuring Barisan Nasional’s defeat, to the people, it is a no-go, as Pakatan Harapan is already deemed a Barisan Nasional ally by virtue of the MoU it signed with government.
In other words, people are not going to buy MUDA’s bullsh*t, and word on the street has is that “MUDA blundered big time by working with a turncoat organisation.”
Yes, like it or not, the MoU has relegated Pakatan Harapan into “a turncoat” outfit, given that the coalition betrayed the people’s trust by giving a new lease of life to the now UMNO-led federal government.
Mind you, this is the very government that was brought into power through the kitchen door with the help of UMNO Kleptocrats, the very Kleptocrats Pakatan Harapan worked hard to defeat during the 14th general election.
Young voters today are politically savvy, and some of them have even stronger opinions than older farts like me – do you honestly think they are going to take MUDA’s association with Pakatan Harapan with a pinch of salt?
I highly doubt it.
Regardless, it does not matter to me whether Anwar did or did not enter a deal with Zahid, or whether the agreement Pakatan Harapan entered with MUDA was aimed at ‘neutralising’ the youth-centric party.
What matters to me is that Pakatan Harapan DID enter a WELL-PUBLICISED deal with MUDA, and this deal has scarred the new party to a considerable extent, judging from the word on the street and chatters within the social media.
It is fortunate that Pejuang deputy president Datuk Wira Marzuki Yahya had the moral sense and political acumen to distance Pejuang from Pakatan Harapan, on the basis that Pakatan Harapan is “a part of government.”
Hats off to you, Marzuki.
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