No need for a post-mortem. Leave now with some dignity.
None of us were surprised. Harapan failed, yet again! Does Anwar Ibrahim think we are naive and gullible and daft? Anwar is past his sell-by date. There is no other polite way of saying it. He is a liability. When will he learn from his mistakes?
He was weak. There was no clear-cut strategy. The voters punished PKR because of its refusal to stick to principles. There is NO point blaming poor voter turn-out.
I would rather stay at home than vote for a party and leader which welcomed frogs with open arms and refused to listen to Harapan supporters.
Poor voter turnout? Ever wondered why there was poor voter turn-out? There was nothing to entice or induce them to leave their homes at all.
This is a clear message that the leaders of the coalition Opposition parties need to clean out their parties, get rid of the deadwood, get rid of the hangers-on, get rid of the troublemakers, get rid of the hyenas, donkeys, monkeys, frogs, two-headed snakes, crocodiles, foxes, vultures, and wolves. And weeds.
So, how many times must Harapan supporters groan and wince in pain each time Harapan loses in a by-election or a state election?
Each failure is followed by “we will do a post-mortem.” It’s always the same old same old reasons. Frogs. Failure to listen. Failure to identify with the people in the area. Failure to connect with the minority groups. Failure to talk with one voice on issues which the locals are concerned about. Failure to start the new narrative with the Malays. Find out what the conservative Malays fear. Find out the common areas which connect the conservative and progressive Malays.
If Malacca is the trial run for GE-15, then Anwar and his inner circle should be very very afraid.
The Malacca state election is the latest in a string of Harapan failures.
Mat Sabu of Amanah, Lim Guan Eng of DAP should search their consciences and question why they must humour Anwar all the time. When will they stop being in denial?
Anwar is a spent force. Parachuting his daughter into the top job will not be good enough because Anwar will be hovering in the background, probably advising and not allowing her to be her own woman with her own ideas and her own way of doing things. And she being the dutiful daughter will not dare to oppose him. If Najib had Kak Ros behind him, Nurul will have Anwar behind her. Meddling.
Anwar knows that Malaysians will always have deference towards the older generation. None of the younger candidates or those with potential will want to upset the seniors. This is our culture of respect for the older people. So, who will lawan him? No one…because they will be told off for being biadap.
Anwar should be magnanimous and tell the coalition that he will go. Only then will the younger ones, the more able, and the more creative and visionary, the ones with potential, will step forward, show themselves, develop, and grow with the coalition and lead.
If Anwar still does not understand why Harapan did badly, here are some reasons to choose from:
We told him NOT to enlist the frogs. What did he do? He enlisted the frogs
We told him that the Umno-Baru were traitors and turncoats. He dismissed our concerns and said they were not.
The Ginie Lim debacle was badly managed.
The failure to understand local issues. Inability to listen or to strategise?
The failure to nurture and groom credible new and younger leaders? Why? No wonder critics claim that he is obsessed with the prime minister-in-waiting post and has little time for anything else. Or is he afraid of being challenged?
The failure to strengthen the party at the grassroots level.
We told him to curb the infighting. That has not happened. There is little discipline in the party.
We were appalled that frogs were enticed to bring down the state government, then the same frogs were embraced and called heroes, then there was the claim that winning is everything. The message we received was “Principles be damned?? Where is the honour in that? No wonder supporters gave PKR a thrashing.
We told him to focus on local issues, but he harped on about other things. Who cares about Najib and large-scale corruption, when unemployment is on the rise, the Coronavirus is scaring people, jobs are few and far between, mental health issues are on the rise, people’s well-being is at risk and many companies are closing down. These are local, issues affecting the electorate which he must address.
We told him to build a party with members with integrity and principle. What did he do? Bring in frogs and alienate the rest of us.
The use of the new logo was another no-no.
Harapan supporters are fed up to the teeth with the lack of integrity at the top.
Harapan supporters are fed up with the failure of the top to listen to the grassroots.
Harapan supporters are fed up with Anwar’s lack of vision. His failure to come up with the numbers. His failure to acknowledge that clinging on to the top job will force potential leaders to leave. Force more supporters to curse Harapan. Force the general population into thinking there is no hope for the country. The last one is bad news.
Malacca was where the Lims built their formidable political careers. The drubbing voters gave DAP may be the warning bells tolling for worse things to come.
The rakyat pleaded with Anwar, but he turned his back on us.
He does not need new enemies as he is his own worst enemy.
This is not the late 1990s. This is the early 2020s…Reformasi is morphing into Reformati.
Anwar should do the honourable thing and resign.
He should go whilst there is a little bit of dignity left intact. And before a messy power grab for the leadership. – Rebuilding Malaysia