COMMENT | GE15 – many questions, few answers

COMMENT | An announcement of the dissolution of Parliament is imminent. It is clear that Umno is preparing for early elections. GE15 is expected to take place in November. Why this early?

The popular view was that it was not in Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's interest to hold an early election. He would wait until all the trials of the court cluster in Umno had been completed. But the court cluster has been hot on his heels.

Everything changed when Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was acquitted. Zahid, euphoric after his court victory, rallied his troops and convened a Umno supreme council meeting and called for early elections. A decision was made but the date for the elections would be fixed by the prime minister. Was Ismail Sabri promised the prime ministership if the BN wins?

The opposition fiercely opposes early elections. They call on the king to refuse to dissolve Parliament. They say Umno has relatively few seats and thus, they cannot decide the question on their own. It is the rainy season and floods are expected. Cost of living is a major issue and the cost of holding the elections is estimated to run into hundreds of millions of ringgit. The focus of the government should be on the economy, and this is not the time to be distracted by elections.

Opposition leaders Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Lim Kit Siang, Anthony Loke, Muhyiddin Yassin, Anwar Ibrahim and Rafizi Ramli are all opposed to early elections.

It is not clear whether Harapan as a coalition is as cohesive as it was at GE14. Mahathir is not within Harapan. He has offered to serve as prime minister for one year. But his offer has fallen on deaf ears. He is 97 and after the Sheraton Move, no one will trust him again. He should give up any aspiration to be prime minister and support anyone the opposition put up for the position. He could salvage his reputation that way.

Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, now leader of Muda and widely believed to be aligned to Mahathir, has asked to join Harapan. Is Syed Saddiq the man to watch? Has he grown wiser, stronger and clearer as to what direction he wants to take the country? During the previous round, he appeared uncertain as to which side he was on.

Anwar and his new deputy in PKR, Rafizi, appear to have reached some kind of accommodation. There are seven million new young voters. This election is a battle for the hearts and minds of the very young. Who can rally them? It was Rafizi's Invoke that laid the groundwork for GE14. He is a brilliant campaigner but by many accounts an irascible personality. His tactical genius is required. Will Invoke be resurrected? Where are people like PKR leaders Nurul Izzah Anwar and Fahmi Fadzil? Will Anwar give them a bigger role?

Has the DAP got its act together? Is newly elected party secretary-general Anthony Loke clearly in charge? Is he capable of stepping up to the breach and taking on the reins of leadership of the party? Are Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng and Tony Pua prepared to...