By Murray Hunter

BANGKOK, Thailand--Remember when Pakatan Harapan secured their surprise election victory back in 2018? Many expressed their joy as Merdeka Day relived. There was so much hope about a Malaysia baru being born.

Now remember the Johor state election. Melaka and Sarawak before that. The rekindled Barisan Nasional seems to have wiped the blip of history where PH was the government off the record, as if it never happened.

It's almost four years since 2018, and there is a completely changed political landscape. We have to ask the question why?

One thing those observing Malaysia at the time would clearly remember was the growing loss of hope and later disillusionment with the PH government over its short 20 months in power. 

 
In the beginning, everyone, even UMNO supporters, had hopes of seeing real reforms, only to have their hopes shattered by the coalition's complete failure to deliver.

Then there were the nasty party splits, symbolised with the treacherous defection of the Azmin Ali group from PKR during the Sheraton Putsch, which created what most described as a new ‘backdoor’ government.

This enraged many. However, Anwar Ibrahim as the ‘then prime minister in waiting’ failed to take the opportunity to rally PH supporters to the moral cause of winning back the government. With the advent of the pandemic, the Rakyat lost their rage as their lives turned towards the need to just survive.

Its an understatement to say the PH have poorly performed since losing power. Metaphorically going to one corner and crying was never going to bring back anything.

PH when knocked down had to jump straight back up and act like an alternative government. Malaysia certainly needed one to fight for the interests of the Rakyat over the pandemic and crisis of just surviving over the last two years.

The people needed a hero to fight the harshness of government, which the opposition hasn’t provided.

The PH coalition should have become mean and hungry once again, bringing back the spirit and desperation they had during the Reformasi days. However, the people have perceived the opposition over the last two years as a one-man crusade for power.

The once prime minister in waiting now very much appears to be the prime minister who would never be.

Perhaps the greatest betrayal to the Rakyat was the signing of the MOU with the Ismail Sabri government, pledging to support the government, in exchange for a handful of reforms that nobody is sure will really come. 
 
Supporting the budget that was clearly against opposition policy, and drastically failed to address growing hardship in the community, probably turned off much of the strongly fought for PH support base.

The PH-Ismail Sabri MOU formally turned the PH into a pro-government grouping, something Westminster oppositions might only do during a world war, in exchange for cabinet representation. What a great deal it was for Ismail Sabri, not so much for PH, as we are seeing electorally.

Where is the shadow cabinet? Where is the desperation to perform as a real opposition? Where is the alternative government?

So many new political parties stepped into the vacuum left PH, which appears to have jumped ship.

There is a real need for a complete refocus on the PH sense of mission. Internal party elections are also sending the same message to their respective leaderships.

There also needs to be a drastic realization that the electorate at this time is not interested in reform, but craving for someone to come up and solve the reasons being their current hardships. 
 
Neither the government or opposition are sharing any empathy with those suffering across the nation. This is what the Rakyat wants, this is what the Rakyat needs today.

People are concerned about feeding themselves. They are plagued with rising prices, food shortages, and loss of income. Anti-hopping bills will not help families put food on the table.

The Rakyat want to hear solutions to their daily problems.

This is where the opposition is failing badly. They are not proposing solutions that can win the trust and imagination of the Rakyat. What the opposition is proposing isn’t getting to the Rakyat. A debate about Sapura between Anwar Ibrahim and Najib Razak, if it comes off, will only become an amusement park side show.

There are no more excuses that the media is government controlled, alternative and social media is now abundant to get messages across to the Rakyat.

The position of opposition leader is so crucial in politics today. Not only must the opposition leader be an alternative prime minister, but he or she must be a winner. He or she needs to be the person with solutions.

It doesn’t matter whether you love or hate Anwar Ibrahim. He needs to put up, or stand aside for someone who can be a fearless leader and inspire the Rakyat. 
 
If he wants to be that person, be that person immediately. If he can’t or won’t, don’t hold the position, only to damm the opposition to another decade outside of government.

This is the decision opposition parties must make. Male the wrong one and after the next general election the opposition will look very different, fragmented into a thousand pieces.

People are waiting to see a changing of the guard, or watch someone who can take the argument to the government.

The last budget, as mentioned earlier, isn't tackling the suffering of the Rakyat, which is accelerating due to rampant inflation. We are now at the point where a supplementary budget is required to deal with the rapidly changing economic situation.

Where is the opposition on this matter?

The opposition needs to inspire, take the lead. Everyday is a day on the hustings, where the opposition should be showing what magic it has, to the Rakyat.

The Rakyat needs to be stirred up, motivated to come out in the next general election, if the opposition is to have any chance of retaking Putra Jaya.

They are failing dismally here. If the opposition can’t be a credible opposition, how can it become a credible government?

The next general election, which will most likely be very soon, will not be about reform. The next general election will be about who can relive the Rakyat’s economic hardships.

The opposition needs to refocus their policies on the crises at hand, and deliver this message immediately. The Rakyat don’t want to see opposition groups bickering and dividing themselves, playing directly into the hand of the government.

Malaysians need a credible opposition, even more than ever.