COMMENT | The opening shots have been fired, and we’re off to the races!

Except it appears that more than a few have stumbled at the very starting line.

I think there are two main takeaways from what has happened thus far. Firstly, Pakatan Harapan still has a long way to go in terms of organisation. Secondly, this may be a much closer race than some of us expected.

We may believe that in some of these instances, a Harapan candidate’s candidature would have been sabotaged no matter what degree of preparation.

However, from a cursory glance at the six currently known disqualifications (along with other near-disqualifications and last minute candidate changes) at present, it appears that only one could not have been evaded by any amount of preparation, while two other cases appear to be at least somewhat ambiguous.

The disqualification of Tian Chua (centre in photo) from contesting in Batu does indeed stink of heinous, premeditated manipulation.

The Election Commission has given absolutely no logical reason why Chua was not allowed to contest in the 14th general election (GE14) due to a conviction and RM 2,000 fine, despite being allowed to contest in the previous general election after a different conviction which also resulted in a RM 2,000 fine.

Simple logic suggests that absent any changes in the law (there were none), you cannot arbitrarily interpret the rules one way for one election, and another way for another election.

I also do not believe for a second that some lowly returning officer in Batu made such a big decision on his own, or without some sort of “guidance”.

Avoidable disqualifications

That said, it appears that in all other 5 cases, disqualification should theoretically have been avoidable.

In Johor’s Bukit Pasir, Penang’s Penaga and Kelantan’s Kuala Balah, two Bersatu candidates and one PKR candidate were disqualified on the grounds of bankruptcy. The PAS candidate in Subang Jaya met the same fate.

In the Bersatu cases, candidates Pizi Jihat and Yaakob Osman insisted that they had done their checks and that they were not in fact bankrupt (one apparently having settled his bankruptcy earlier). The PKR candidate, Mohd Hafidz Rizal Amran, declined to comment.

If the Bersatu members are right in that they are indeed solvent, then foul play on the part of the EC must be investigated and properly prosecuted.

Either way, one has to wonder: how is it so common that bankruptcy is an issue for candidates?

It could be that my sample size is excessively small, but I don’t get the impression that a particularly high proportion of the population is bankrupt. Why is it then that so many candidates for political office seem to be?

It appears the Bersatu members at least went to some trouble to ensure that they were legally solvent ahead of time, so it is hard to say whether added preparation would have made a difference.

Failing to change addresses

The case is much more clear-cut for many other instances, however. The PKR candidate for Tawang, Kelantan, Mohd Azihan Che Seman, was disqualified because his identity card address was not in Kelantan (any candidate for a state seat must have their IC address be in that state).

The PKR candidate for Bukit Melawati G Sivamalar faced the same problem, leading her to be replaced by a last-minute backup candidate.

PKR’s candidate for Port Dickson was also changed at the last minute, when it was discovered that the original candidate, Rosman Jonet, did not submit his last election spending report to the EC.

Then there was the PKR candidate in Wangsa Maju, Tan Yee Kew, who was almost disqualified simply because she forgot to bring her IC. I’m not sure how one forgets such basic things, and believe that it is technically a crime for someone not to have their IC with them at any given time.

In the case of PKR in Rantau, where the caretaker menteri besar of Negeri Sembilan is contesting, the PKR candidate Dr S Streram (extreme right in photo) was denied entry because he did not pick up an EC pass earlier.

While this particular incident also stinks of bad faith on the part of the EC, had the candidate picked up his pass earlier (as we assume every single other candidate in the country - except perhaps Jenice Lee in Teratai and Pandan - managed to do successfully), then we presumably would not be in this pickle to begin with.

Each of these problems was 100 percent both avoidable and preventable with even the simplest of systematic and thorough checks.

How hard is it, for example, for a political party seeking to govern the entire country to assign a few people to physically check every potential candidate’s IC to ensure that their registered address renders them eligible to be a candidate or not? Even having the candidate send a photo of their IC via Whatsapp would have sufficed to prevent this problem.

We’re not talking about forgetting a passport or visa and missing your flight as a result (though that’s bad enough); we’re talking about deciding which exact individuals will be the ones to decide the entirety of our shared future as a nation. Surely we can do better.

As a brief aside, I suppose we must give credit where it is due, and note that the DAP apparently had no such nomination day problems - perhaps due to superior organisational skills.

Authorities fearing change?

That said, we certainly saw instances of bias on nomination day. Malaysians are outraged to be sure, though I imagine few are surprised.

The good news is that the powers that be probably would not have gone through this trouble if there was no danger whatsoever of them losing the elections.

That such steps had to be taken could be an indication that there is a real fear that change is in the air.

As we approach that change, however, let us urge opposition parties to practice the organisational discipline and standards that would be expected of even the simplest company or NGO, much less a collection of people seeking to run the country.

At this crucial stage, there is no room for error. We can be sure that even the slightest oversight or misstep will be exploited fully by those eager to hang on to power - so let’s keep our eye carefully on the ball, every step of the way.

NATHANIEL TAN wishes everyone a healthy campaign period. Good luck, have fun!

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.