PKR AND PAKATAN DO NOT NEED MANY MEMBERS; THEY CAN GET VOTES FROM THOSE WHO DO NOT VOTE BARISAN LIKE WHAT HAPPENED IN THE 2008 GENERAL ELECTION.

…BUT PKR AND PAKATAN’S IGNORANCE OF THIS FACTOR HAS CAUSED THEM TO LOSE THAT SUPPORT. THEY WILL BE TROUNCED IN THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION.
By Mansor Puteh



BARISAN LEADERS AND STRATEGISTS DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAD HIT THEM IN THE 2008 GENERAL ELECTION AND WHAT THEIR OPPONENTS COULD USE TO GARNER MORE SUPPORT FROM THOSE WHO WERE ONCE HARDCORE BARISAN SUPPORTERS TO MOVE TO THE OTHER SIDE.

THEY BLAMED OTHER THINGS AND FACTORS.

THE TRUTH IS THAT THEY HAD FAILED TO CONTAIN DISSENTION WITHIN THE BARISAN SUPPORTERS WHO HAD IN MANY WAYS – SUBTLE AND CRUDE WAYS – THAT SOME OF THEIR OLD GOATS HAD HAD ENOUGH OF THEIR ATTENTION, SO THEY’D BETTER GET RID OF THEM.

And Pakatan does not seem to know how to continue on with the swing to get better benefits in the future.

They had remained aloof to the sudden swing of voters’ sentiments to favor them. They did not realize that they had not done much to attract the attention of the others who were still not sure if they wanted to be on this side of the opposition.

PKR and Pakatan leaders have failed to contain them and make them feel at home on the other side of the fence.

The problem with these leaders is that they are too self-centered. They are no different compared to their Barisan counterparts from which some of the more senior leaders had come from.

They have brought the same culture and practice to PKR and Pakatan, so this did not please the new opposition supporters, especially when some of those in DAP had become too abrasive to cause a lot of consternation amongst the Melayu and Muslim supporters, who are now feeling that the DAP is a Chinese chauvinist party who puts on a false face to distract the Melayu to support them.

They have failed. Many Melayu had left DAP, PKR and Pakatan.

This explains why the PKR elections attracted a mere ten percent of the voters from amongst its members.

But they should not care, since voter count for party election is not important; voter counts for the general and by-elections are.

And this is where Pakatan has an upper hand that they can count on those who dislike Barisan like they did in 2008.

But the truth is, Pakatan cannot depend on those who thought they had been disenfranchised by Barisan like what they felt in 2008 to hold on to the same sentiments in the next general election.

They had started to show that in the last two by-elections in Kelantan and Sabah where Barisan won handsomely.

Some of them could still win in their party elections at the divisional level as well as the national levels.

They were feted by their in-party supporters.

But what they didn’t realize is how those who vote for them in the general election or even by-election do not care for their in-party support; they have other views on them.

So it was not a big surprise how many of their veteran and old goats were trounced.

Despite that they could still walk with their heads high.

The problem with these people is that they had been around for too long to realize that their skin had grown too chick. They feel no guilt. They are shameless and claim to have the support of their party members.

They do.

But what they cannot be certain is that the voters out there who are not their party supporters or members who are also going to vote in the elections.

And as it had happened, those who were party members had also not voted for Barisan in the last general election.

This caused them to lose badly.

Yet, the same goats were still intent on holding onto their posts which they had held for so long.

They had not learnt much. They think they are too important to their party. They are too self-important.

Whereas, Pakatan placed in new faces, the greenhorns whom the voters thought they could control and dominate, who could be eternally grateful to them, the voters for turning them in as members of the state assemblies and of parliament.

This is one of the major factors why they won. And it was also one of the major factors many of the new faces in Barisan had also won.

So the truth is that the veterans and old goats in Barisan were the problem. They were the main reason why Barisan was trounced in the election where they lost more states to Pakatan.

There is an advantage in being the opposition party in Malaysia in that it does not need to get many members who support their cause.

In fact, they did not have to campaign which is costly. All they needed to do was to sow hatred of Barisan and create animosity amongst its members.

They had created disillusionment amongst many of them who started to see Barisan as old hat; a coalition of old parties with old men who could not walk even if they were given walking sticks or who could not go anywhere even if they were given wheelchairs to push themselves to.

In other words, Barisan and some of their old leaders have overstayed their time. They had become a nuisance to the voters. They had to be thrown out of the political scene.

And this time the voters managed to do.

What happened after the 2008 election was dramatic.

They can depend on those who are disillusioned with Barisan to get votes from them as can be seen in the results of the 2008 general election.

Those who had turned in Pakatan in the election did not know that they had voted for them; they only thought they had not voted Barisan.

This is the problem with Barisan; they lose votes because the voters had to choose between them and Pakatan.

As a result, Pakatan did not have to campaign in the 2008 election and still managed to win many seats.

So can they do to sustain this?

And what can Barisan do to stave off this notion in the thinking of the voters, so that they do not give their votes to Pakatan even if they do not like Barisan?

It’s not some thing those in Barisan had ever thought of. Their strategists are too dumb to realize this, while their counterparts in Pakatan are too naïve to realize it too; how they had managed to get votes not because the voters liked them, but because they did not like Barisan.

I did not vote. The reason because I did not like the candidates from Barisan and Pakatan who did not turn up to canvass for votes. None of them got any vote from me because I refrained from voting.

And I will do so in the future unless if Barisan and Pakatan shows me their candidates whom I can respect and trust and who has proper background and the right academic qualification.

I am not demanding; I am just being realistic. Those who want my vote must be deserving and earn it. They have to be educated and cultured.

Unfortunately, there are not many in Barisan and Pakatan who have been voted can ever meet my high standards. They are too confused with their roles as elected representatives.

They only know that they have been given a boost in their political career, so they are either in parliament or the state assemblies and also the Barisan cabinet and or the Pakatan shadow cabinet.

Some of them have become loud-mouths and chauvinists. They exhibited this trait very quickly upon taking over the state assemblies and some seats in parliament and the administration of some of the state governments.

They had failed many of the voters especially the Melayu and Muslims who had wanted to give them a chance to prove themselves.

Unfortunately, they had failed.

Pakatan will be trounced in the Thirteenth General Election, that’s for sure.

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