YOURSAY | The four most likely to be next PM

YOURSAY | ‘Ask yourself which one can change your children’s lives for the better.’

Loke paints a vivid picture: Harapan will win, recapture Putrajaya

Headhunter: When you cast your vote, remember this. You are selecting one of these four persons to be your next prime minister. None can be said to be the best the country can offer but we are limited to picking one of them.

1. Anwar Ibrahim: Former deputy prime minister and finance minister. Articulate and well-exposed internationally both as a politician and intellectual. He had been struggling to be the PM for years and betrayed by those whom he trusted.

2. Ismail Sabri Yaacob: Not very bright. He jumps up and runs like a hare whenever some big gun in Umno claps loudly behind him. Looks like a lost sheep when attending international events because of his limited English. As far as performance goes, we could only rate him an F.

3. Dr Mahathir Mohamad: The old fox is like the classic story of Don Quixote still doing battle with the windmill and thinking he will triumph again. But remember he was and is the cause of our predicament, our nation going to the dogs and us living the lives of peasants.

4. Muhyiddin Yassin: The man who betrayed us by turning an elected government into a backdoor one. Surrounded by a bunch of spineless traitors and fanatics whose only interest is to clean out the Treasury.

There you have it. So, think wisely before you use your precious vote. Ask yourself which one of them can change the lives of you and your children for the better.

Justice: Harapan is still very vague and rhetorical about its promise of bringing reforms and fighting corruption. Compared with BN's promise of political and economic stability, they both sound hollow and do not resonate with us voters.

We voters do not want merely a change of personalities and political parties in power among the elites who will implement the same policies and systems, and act and conduct themselves in the same old ways.

Worst, Harapan has no concrete or specific package to offer Sabahans and Sarawakians, especially to show that Harapan will not, like BN in the last 59 years since the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, discriminates against Sabah and Sarawak in terms of the PM and deputy prime minister’s posts and providing fair or sufficient annual financial allocations to develop or improve the two states, especially road infrastructures in rural areas.

BN, PN and Harapan being all led by Peninsular Malaysians had not respected the "equal" status of Sabah and Sarawak and Malaya that together formed the Malaysian Federation by giving Sabahans and Sarawakians the "equal" chance or opportunity to hold the posts of PM or DPM.

The division of the national budget among the three parties for 2022 and 2023 also clearly showed continuing discrimination against Sabah and Sarawak by the BN and PN.

That was why the initial strength gained or made by DAP and PKR in Sarawak is fast declining there because voters there are unhappy with Harapan, which like the BN and PN are not offering a better alternative to Sabah and Sarawak.

So, they might as well stay put with the devil they know.

Constitutional Supremacy: In any negotiations, there must be fair play and reasonableness of decisions. Muda is not a youth committee like that of youth wings of PKR, Amanah and DAP. The Muda leadership consists of youth but they form the leadership of the party. This is unlike PKR, DAP, and Amanah.

The four components of Harapan have taken all the seats they won in 2018 and those in which they had lost too. They have also taken the major chunk of Bersatu seats contested by it under Harapan.

It is said there are about eight seats that none of them wanted and will be offered to Muda and PSM. Is the above distribution fair and reasonable? By any stretch of the imagination, it is not. It is a highly tainted and dictatorial way of doing it.

PSM has been there for more than 30 years. It has never made any impact. Thus, even Sungai Siput seat will satisfy them. Muda is different. About four months after its registration, it took part in the Johor state elections earlier this year.

Associate Professor Bridget Welsh has stated that her analysis of the Johor state results showed that Muda performed better than PKR in the elections. Muda did not lose any deposit. PKR was the reason for the non-acceptance of Muda into the Harapan fold. Thus, Muda will have no choice but to go in on its own.

Muda should study PKR seats and contest their original number of 15 seats. But Muda must put up professionals to contest and aim at mixed seats. At the same time, it should cooperate with DAP and Amanah.

Mazilamani: It is good to see DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke oozing with raw confidence, but the reality on the ground is different when it concerns Malay sentiments and vote base. What has DAP done all these years to attract Malay votes?

Instead of ceaselessly attacking Umno leaders and their follies, did DAP do anything to position itself as a truly Malaysian party? Just saying it is not enough. Where is the evidence? Why do some members insist DAP remains an exclusively communal party?

I am all for a righteous government but with all these ongoing events over the last five years, things do not look any brighter.

Man on the Silver Mountain: I hope it will come true because it means that the kleptocrats will not be able to dig their hands into the country finance's jar like what they did when they governed. I hope that the people will reject corruption and allow a new clean government of Harapan and the like.

Otherwise, we will go deeper and deeper into the black hole of bankruptcy, a point of no return, where even light cannot escape.

Hmmmmmmmm: Nobody actually thought Harapan could break BN's hegemony in the last GE but they did it. Now, nobody thinks Harapan can repeat this feat but it is up to all of us to prove them wrong again.

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