Everyone in PR should be at their battle-stations by now. The enemy will launch a sudden attack and PR must not be caught unprepared!

What next, Pakatan Rakyat — Black Arrow

December 15, 2010

DEC 15 — 2010 has been quite a turbulent year for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) as in the four by-elections held, PR only managed to win one. (Out of the by-elections in Hulu Selangor, Sibu, Galas and Batu Sapi, PR won only in Sibu.)

This is dismal indeed.

It is important to note that PR lost in the rural areas. This means that rural areas especially in Sabah and Sarawak which continue to be BN’s stronghold will remain as a stumbling block to PR’s dreams of capturing Putrajaya.

First and foremost, this writer believes that Putrajaya seems almost a mission impossible for PR given the fact that BN will employ uncountable ‘extreme mind-bending tactics’ to stay in power at all costs.

This writer does not mean to put a damper on PR’s dreams but this is a reality of the Malaysian political scenario.

The defeats in Galas and Batu Sapi is the writing on the wall for PR. If PR fails to realise its implications or oblivious to what is going on and fails to take heed of these alarm bells ringing loudly, it does so at its own peril and this can only lead to doom for PR in the 13th General Elections.

After losing Galas and Batu Sapi, especially Galas, the warning signs are evident that PR must take stock of itself and step up its game.

Clearly something is amiss and PR must find out and scrutinise what are the reasons for these defeats.

Or PR can take the opposite approach and shrug off these defeats as one-off events due to ‘peculiar factors’ as in Bagan Pinang (large number of postal voters). Especially in the Galas defeat, this writer hopes that PR will take it as an early warning sign and take the matter seriously. Certainly it will be disastrous if PR were to adopt a feel-good or business-as-usual attitude.

The choice of approach is up to PR and so too the consequences to be faced.

The Pakatan leadership must again come together to stress that upholding the solid platform of the Common Policy Framework (CPF) is of paramount importance. For more than 2 years and 9 months now, Pakatan MPs have been active in Parliament participating in the legislative process and not just opposing for the sake of opposing.

There is now a constructive check and balance of BN policies.

Although the image of PKR and to a lesser extent DAP have been affected by their intra-party elections, Pakatan can now improve as having hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up. Looking at it from a positive aspect, PR has been given due warning to pull up its socks and get down to plain hard work. It is futile and pointless to talk about Putrajaya if PR does not know what it takes to get there.

Pakatan Rakyat must now take steps to secure and improve upon its current position.

That being said and done, Pakatan must not be too obsessed with winning Putrajaya. Most importantly, PR must not shoot at its own feet by making unnecessary statements. There is no need to make statements or talk about matters that hinder PR’s cause.

Pakatan Rakyat must always maintain focus and avoid being entangled and embroiled with issues that have no immediate relevancy or are only academic. There is extensive work to be done to implement the Common Policy Framework (CPF) with vast avenues to proceed from the ideological and theological viewpoints.

Pakatan must move on the clear road ahead without beating about the bush if it is serious in wanting to get to Putrajaya. The roadmap is in front of Pakatan Rakyat and everyone in PR must not take a detour or lose the plot.

The important thing is for PR leaders to plan and operate a common strategy together so that the stand and approach towards issues are the same. There should not be blunders in statements issued where one PR component party’s stand seems to be in conflict with its coalition partner. Inter-party and intra-party matters should be re-aligned towards the same direction.

In 2008 the opposition had a good strategy in operation, there were no blunders or foul-ups to the finish line and that is the reason for the good showing. For a repeat of that performance, everyone in Pakatan Rakyat must work very hard and be genuine in serving the rakyat. Of utmost importance too is that unnecessary statements should be avoided at all costs and if there is nothing better to say, it is best to remain silent as discretion is the better part of valour.

Black Arrow