LETTER | Seeing Harapan as continuous failure wear us down

LETTER | To err is human, surely. 

Pakatan Harapan seems to learn little from the past, good or bad. Making misguided decisions is becoming a habit.

It seems the leaders in Harapan do learn from making mistakes. They learn how to make them.

If Albert Einstein were to witness the actions of Harapan to date, he will substitute the word “insanity” with Harapan who is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Losing seven by-elections immediately, on the trot, after that historic day in May 2018 using the same strategies adopted on that day is clear proof.

After Feb 2020, it appears that the leaders in the coalition parties making up Harapan slowed down their decision-making process.

They also appear to be consistently using weaker information or relying on poorer-quality evidence from the surrounding environment to decide as they are still involved in a quest to understand why they were removed from Putrajaya unceremoniously in February 2020. 

Yes, mistakes were made and these leaders might find it hard to admit them because doing so feels like an attack on their self-worth. The leaders are still wired to pay attention to things that were rewarding once, even if they aren’t anymore.

They were still caught in the time warp of figuring out why February 2020 happened? Did something change? Was there anything wrong with Harapan? All this negative feedback triggers a cascade of computations. 

Each of the parties in the Harapan coalition became self-absorbed. Each believed in their own lies, which repeated so often within themselves that it became the truth to them.

Habits build in after that historic day in 2018 was hard to kick. 

These leaders struggled ineffectively with their own self-esteem, resulting in a self-defeating cycle that they have never been able to escape from.

These leaders believed in their own charisma and are so confident that the rakyat and their supporters will follow anything they say. They speak endlessly of how successful their policies were during the 22 months in Putrajaya and how well-liked they are.

They thought that they can trick the rakyat given the manifesto they presented in 2018 that was too good to be true, never realising that a certain portion of the rakyat do ask serious questions and realise that it was not as good as it looks.

Self-defeating behaviours

When they were in the government, they already showed they lacked depth, judgment and wisdom in their roles, Once out, they take shortcuts. Previously they got lucky.

But this approach held them back from delivering on the promises even though they are no longer in the government. That is a surefire way to bring their government in waiting to a screeching halt.

These self-defeating behaviours entail a combination of self-destruction and self-protection. It became a compulsion. 

Post the election in Johor, the self-defeating behaviours emerged immediately with all these pathetic excuses, such as:

1. They would have won if not for the three or four-cornered fights that split the votes of the opposition.

2. The opposition should regroup for GE 15 including the possibility of forming an alliance with Perikatan Nasional, whose lynchpin, Bersatu, was the main cause for the fall of the Harapan government in 2020.

3. If not for the low turnout of voters, Harapan would have done better.

After seven by-elections post-May 2018 followed by the state elections in Sabah, Sarawak, it was clear to even the man on the streets that the rakyat, in general, are more concerned about ideas on how to bring growth to the country – bread and butter issues - than Harapan’s theme of the country must not allow the kleptocrats and the court cluster to return to power.

Despite that, Harapan persists and remains unchanged, playing the same song in the state elections in Malacca and Johor.

The results from the Malacca and Johor elections indicate that Umno and BN benefit from a widespread desire for political stability.

Unfortunately for the rakyat, this stability does not guarantee that Umno/BN will be able to navigate the type of future that the country will face following the pandemic and the effects from the Russia/Ukraine issue given the quality and capability shown by the leaders in Umno/ BN in their handling of the ministries assigned to them respectively.

Thus to prepare for GE 15 and to avoid repeating history, maybe it is best for Harapan not to try to learn from it as they did not appear to make the mistakes they made work for them. 

Stop all pretences on those pathetic excuses of three-cornered fights drawing away votes, low voter turnout and grouping of all opposition parties. It is all excuses, excuses, excuses. Avoid each of them like the pandemic. 

Instead, Harapan should think about the future, what they want to accomplish and try to view it from a fresh angle that can lead them down a more successful road. 

Announcing the names of the candidates for all the seats the coalition will be contesting way before Parliament is dissolved is one. Do not leave it to the last minute as practiced. 

Announcing a timeline for the departure of the present lineup of leaders and who are the next generation of leaders that will be succeeding them is another positive step. 

Instead of harping on the corrupted state of the country, present new and alternative ideas for growth and not ideas on how to stop corruption and manage costs, as both issues are already endemic and cannot be resolved within one generation.

And stop playing the victim as the leader of the Harapan coalition has been doing since February 2020.

The rakyat do realise quickly that it’s a form of manipulation and a game. If the leader wants to play the victim, give up power. You can’t put a price on that.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.