YOURSAY | 'Harapan is still the same hoax that was voted into power. Nothing has changed.'

Despite hurtful remarks, Harapan still intact – Anwar

Bobby0: The stumbling block in Pakatan Harapan Plus is Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Why can't they see that he is trying to break up Harapan?

Why would a 95-year-old man, who had already been a prime minister twice, want to hold the position for six months? It does not make sense.

Probably he is staying back to be the Trojan horse. He knows Anwar has the support from DAP, Amanah and, together with some members from his own party, they are still a strong opposition. They can still wreak havoc for Perikatan Nasional (PN) in Parliament and until the next general elections.

And with Warisan on their side, they can be a force to be reckoned with in the next general election. If GPS decides to switch sides, it will be over for PN. So the only way to stop them is to create friction between them. This is Mahathir’s agenda.

He had already achieved his Malay agenda by ‘uniting’ Bersatu, Umno and PAS. Now he needs to weaken the opposition.

Harapan needs to wake up from their slumber and work together without Mahathir for the next election. It is time to go to the ground and prepare for a snap election.

The reason being is that they are also a coalition of many groups. There might be misunderstandings or even uneasiness about the choice of seats and positions. So, Harapan needs to stay together and start building a strong force.

Forget about the PM position in Putrajaya for now. Start working towards it in 2023.

Constitutional Supremacy: From what has been reported so far, the facts are as follows:

1. Harapan among themselves had agreed on Anwar as the PM candidate.

2. At a Harapan Plus meeting, which also included Warisan and Bersatu, Harapan stated its stand. Anwar was allowed to cobble together MPs to support him to be the PM. He was unsuccessful.

3. The second meeting of Harapan Plus was informed about Anwar’s failure. The meeting then decided to give Anwar further time, until June 15 (Monday). At the meeting, it was also agreed that if Anwar failed, then the second option will be to nominate Mahathir as PM and Anwar as the deputy. This was agreed (Anwar chaired the meeting). Anwar tried further, including by going to Sarawak to convince GPS, but was unsuccessful again.

4. As June 15 passed, DAP leader Anthony Loke and Amanah leader Khalid Samad issued statements, asking PKR to state their stand. They further stated that the agreement was minuted.

5. PKR stated in reply that there was no such understanding.

6. PKR the next day stated that they do not support Mahathir to be the PM.

7. Now Anwar is saying that Harapan had always supported him to be the PM.

Analysis of above: PKR and Anwar have avoided the decision of the second option that was agreed. They are merely chanting that Harapan had agreed. Their stand is dishonest. Clearly, Harapan’s earlier stand to nominate Anwar was modified by the Harapan Plus meeting on May 30 and there are minutes to support it.

Thus, PKR and Anwar are only telling half the story.

PMO: There is no guarantee that Mahathir will get the numbers if he is chosen as PM. So, why can’t he be just a senior minister cum advisor? He doesn’t need to be a PM to attract the Malay votes.

Please learn from history what Mahathir had done before by blocking Anwar from the premiership.

OmegaCentral: Anwar has a right to be disappointed with his partners. After all, PKR won the most seats and yet had to agree with the PM coming from a smaller party in the interest of the Harapan coalition and the country.

From the get-go, Mahathir never really attempted to fulfil the coalition's mission. The manifesto was just a piece of paper to him. He took in Umno MPs, which was against what the coalition agreed. He filled up all the important posts with his people. He focused on implementing his own agenda.

Few of the ministers spoke out against his policies, while many Bersatu people frequently attacked DAP, PKR, etc. They even attacked Anwar. One of them even invited controversial Muslim preacher Zakir Naik for dinner.

Despite his denials, I think Mahathir had tried every which way to prevent Anwar from becoming the PM and probably used former PKR deputy president Azmin Ali to create discord in PKR.

What Mahathir did during his time has not only weakened Harapan but also the support of the voters. So I'm not at all surprised that PKR doesn't trust Mahathir anymore, but at the same time, I wonder why DAP and Amanah are so intent on Mahathir being the PM again.

Perhaps they feel it is only through him they can ever become ministers again. After all, they have tasted power, albeit for a short time.

Proarte: It is about time Harapan stops dancing with the devil and stay focused on fulfilling the Harapan manifesto, which Mahathir deliberately undermined. Harapan should not think about forming a minority government as it will be unstable and easily undermined.

With Mahathir on board, Mahathirism will hold sway and so what is the point? What 'reformasi' can there be with Mahathir holding the levers of power?

Harapan will remain as divisive and incompetent as it was when Mahathir was its leader the last time. At least, all the racist and religiously divisive rhetoric and actions have abated under Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. With Mahathir, Malaysia will be never be allowed to be at peace with itself.

There is no way that Harapan Plus electing Mahathir to be the PM candidate will be able to wrest power in a vote of confidence. If Warisan is not supportive of Anwar as PM, then it is clear they will not be loyal to Anwar when Mahathir hands over the reins in six months.

Warisan must not forget that Mahathir allegedly engineered 'Project M' to bring in over one million Muslim migrants from Indonesia and the Philippines to upset the demographics in Sabah. Anwar, too, must take the blame for this travesty and a betrayal of indigenous Sabahans. I don't think the Sabahans 'mudah lupa' (easily forget). This may explain why Warisan is wary of Anwar.

Sadly, Anwar still operates on a subtext of 'Ketuanan Melayu' and 'Ketuanan Islam'. Anwar has to relegate this to the dustbin of history, otherwise, he will continue to be a political failure in multi-religious and multi-racial Malaysia. Religion is a personal matter and should remain so.

How can Anwar convince Sabahans and Sarawakians that he will treat them as equal citizens when he consistently treats Malays as a special class and does nothing to 'unspook' the Malays, like what we expect a 'reformist' leader would do.

Anon25: Anwar, ignore opposing comments. You are right. DAP, Amanah and PKR must come back together like before. That is the only practical option we have.

If party-less Mahathir and his supporters want to support, let them join Harapan. If not, so be it.

The Analyser: There never was any unity in Harapan, so the fact that all parties are in almost total disagreement on everything means nothing has changed.

The coalition was in total agreement on the abandonment of the manifesto. So, nothing has changed there. Although there have been a few feeble attempts to breathe life into the manifesto, there has never been any concerted drive to reinstate or expand that document.

Well, a few self-seekers have abandoned the party to seek greener pastures. But that’s not a problem. Just label them as vermin and suddenly they become irrelevant to the strength of the coalition. How convenient.

Certainly, the coalition’s philosophy and policies remain ‘intact’. There never was any, and there still aren’t. Mahathir is always in control and Anwar is the underdog. That is still intact. So Harapan is still the same hoax that was voted into power. Nothing has changed.

IndigoTrout2522: Often, the more words being aired in public, the more each party/person gets hurt.

Just work quietly and efficiently within the parties and then announce them when the decisions are made. Otherwise, it looks like a blame game, no matter how much each tries to justify and explain their decisions.

In turn, it gives the perception of disunity or distrust. Perception is worse than reality. This was the big problem with Harapan after GE14. Don’t make the same mistake again.

Some may think that speaking and disagreeing or making demands in public is freedom of speech, but having self-discipline and respecting each other is just as important for democracy. It starts with the top leadership.

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