In December 2021, five million new young voters have been registered automatically onto the electoral roll. Six Hundred and fifty thousand (650,000) of them are in Johore. That is why, a political party registered on 23 December 2021, with the acronym of MUDA, is contesting nine seats in Johor PRN courtesy of Pakatan Harapan - the Opposition coalition, by default, in Malaysia.
Whether it would have been better for MUDA to put its fledging political weight behind Pakatan Harapan and allowed these seats to be contested under the PH banner to consolidate PH's claim to be the alternative choice for the government against BN, or whether it is better for MUDA to contest these seats under its own banner, is moot. Suffice to say that PH and MUDA have agreed to work together in Johor. Time will tell if this uneasy alliance will benefit PH and the rakyat in the long run, or further fragment the delicate PH coalition by giving undue political relevance too soon to MUDA, in Johore PRN.
MUDA is not part of the PH coalition. It has ties to Warisan and Pejuang. Together, these three political entities are capable of being a political force in opposition to BN outside the PH coalition. If MUDA was to secure a respectable number of seats in Johor, where will their loyalty lie? With PH or with Warisan and Pejuang?
And that new 650K of young voters in Johor, what are their druthers? BN, PN, PH, PAS, Warisan or MUDA...or the independents, if any. I have yet to see any of those political parties contesting in Johor do any direct appeal to these young voters. Certainly not BN whose claim that Johor has been, and will always be, the bastion for UMNO dulu, sekarang dan sa lama lamanya. Will Umno's pride go before its fall? I do not think so. Not in Johor.
Do these 650K new young voters understand the effect they will have in deciding who will govern Johor after this PRN. Do they care? Has any attempt been made to find out who these 650K new voters are? Are they students, workers, white collars, or professionals? What are their demographics? Are they organized into any groups - loose or structured? INVOKE would have done all this and more. Rafizi, please come home!
And what of MUDA? Bar the slick PR machine that has sold MUDA as being Syed Saddiq and a party for the young, there has been nothing more forthcoming. No political ideology for which MUDA can profess itself to adhere to. No party structure to speak of except for numero uno Syed Saddiq. MUDA has to hit the ground running lest it loses itself in the conundrum that is Malaysian politics today.
I see a confident BN already counting their eggs before they are hatched n Johor.
Uneasy lies the head upon which the Opposition crown now sits. DSAI is in a damm if he does and damm if he does not, kind of quandary. Rafizi, Nurul, Pejuang, Warisan and his old nemisis, Tun Mahathir will all not go away. He has to lead for is he not the leader of the Opposition? Lead what and lead who?
DSAI led PH to a loss in Malacca. He is headed that way too in Johor. What can he do, what is he to do, and how shall he do it if PH is to put up a decent fight against the BN juggernaut? Against the marauding Bossku....against a Convicted Felon?
The Khemah Besar in Johor is a start. Please brother Anwar, build on that. Maybe the Khemah is not besar enough to house Tun Mahathir, Shafie Apdal and TSMY. If it is not, what must you do to besarkan the Khemah?
For DSAI destiny beckons. He is no longer the poster boy that he was when he was riding on REFORMASI and the results of the 12th General Election where Penang, Kedah, Perak, Selangor and the Kelantan's state legislatures came under the Opposition he led. The rakyat has already forgotten the decade he spent behind bars. Forgotten what he and his family had gone through as they all struggled against a government determined to prosecute and persecute him into oblivion. And the rakyat is holding PRU14, not as a triumph of the Opposition, but a failure on the part of the Opposition to deliver what it promised the rakyat it will do. He is now the leader of that Opposition. There is much that DSAI has to do to prove his worth as leader of the Opposition. For starters, if he cannot control his boys in PKR, how can he be PM?
Enough said.
Hussein Hamid
12th February 2022
Melbourne.
Betul.... Agreed with you.. Your wisdom will be appreciated by many. Hopefully DSAI read your thoughts and think deeper... Anwar might might not be the best PM but given present situation, he is the Best among the worst. He will inspires better quality PM for the future. Malaysia will progress but not within our times, maybe 10 to 20 years time.