“If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.”

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

COMMENT | DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang said recently that Pakatan Harapan needs to resolve its “communication failures” before the next GE if not it will suffer from “misperceptions”.

The four issues plaguing Harapan as enunciated by Kit Siang are not communication problems but rather credibility problems.

Do not get me wrong. Harapan’s messaging, to put it bluntly, sucks. It is extremely difficult getting the messaging right when you claim to be an egalitarian coalition when you are too busy not spooking the Malays.

However, this could be overcome by tempering propaganda and concentrating on bread and butter issues.

The credibility problem is more damaging and points to the dysfunctional nature of opposition politics in this country and the often toxic nature of the discourse that Harapan engineers.

As for the “contradictory perception” that the DAP was both anti -Malay and sold out the non -Malays. The former is a political strategy as admitted by none other than the son of the old maverick.

Mukhriz Mahathir is on record as saying the demonization of the DAP by Umno and by extension all Malay uber alles parties was a specific political strategy when they could not answer for the failings of governance.