COMMENT BY YB PROF DR P.RAMASAMY, DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER II, PENANG
The opposition parties must sink their differences to unite for the sake of the country and its people. The absence of unity will mean that PN backdoor government cannot be dislodged. Either the opposition forces sink their decision or face the ignominy of defeat from racial and religious extremism.
For grand coalition of the opposition, must think the unthinkable.
Re-set, re-calibrate, re-invent and others are nice words to hear in terms of regrouping and strengthening the opposition forces.
Whether there is going to be grand coalition of parties or not is yet to be seen. But one thing is clear, without uniting the opposition, taking Putrajaya is a pipe dream.
Backdoor PN might have been vulnerable before the 2021 Budget was introduced, debated and passed in the Parliament.
The political scenario is different.
The opposition by linking the fall of the PN government with the defeat of the budget made a cardinal mistake.
By not standing up to reject the budget at the policy stage, a golden opportunity was lost by PH opposition.
The big talk of defeating the budget at the committee levels more meant to redeem the image in the eyes of the public soon fizzled out.
The opposition must be transparent as to why it lost power after taking power in May 2018, who was responsible for this debacle and whether it could reassure to the public the debacle will not be repeated in the future.
Second is the lack of standing up against the budget and why the opposition acquiesced in not opposing the budget let alone defeating it.
The idea of grand coalition is good one, but it cannot be simply for its own sake. Past mistakes must be frankly admitted and apologies tendered. Those responsible for the fall of the PH government earlier just held accountable.
There are no two ways about it.
Forming a grand coalition is not a simple task; it not the leaders of the various opposition parties are waiting to embrace each in a new united front.
Far from it.
Irreconcilable differences between Anwar on the one hand and Mahathir and Shafie Apdal on the other hand must turned around into reconcilable ones.
It might look impossible, but then how do you take on the government of Muhyiddin Yassin that took a backdoor approach to grab power.
Dislodging the PN government is not going to be that easy, must think the unthinkable to do so.
Thinking of taking power is one thing, but then how do you move towards this objective?
I suggest as a preliminary move, the oppositional forces come together in a closed forum to frank debate and decide on matters of common interest.
I think whatever differences there are can be ironed out in the larger public interest.
It must be remembered that the failure to cooperate and advance the interests of Malaysians who area caught in political entrapment of racial and religious extremism.
If the opposition does not act putting aside their differences however intractable they are, Malaysia might not be saved.
