“There will be no opposition coalition stronger than Pakatan Harapan,” or so said an opposition politician of their confidence in the upcoming 14th General Election. A year since this declaration was made, has the potential been fulfilled?

Beginning with the three main roles in the highest leadership positions of Harapan, which are yet to be satisfactorily justified, the constant backwards and forwards games within Harapan (especially PKR) to entice PAS to return home, the leadership crisis in PKR Kelantan, the internal rifts in PKR, and a 100-day manifesto that makes little sense, Harapan looks to be set to wait another five years to capture Putrajaya.

The actions of Latheefa Koya, who posted statuses in social media which spoke of her disapproval towards Rafizi Ramli – labelling him as cancerous and the main cause of the internal rifts within their party – clearly shows that PKR’s leadership crisis is getting worse.

Moreover, the decision to remove Kelantan PKR Youth Chief Dr Hafidz Rizal so abruptly without any transparent discussions taking place shows how deep the rot goes.

This is not to say that disagreeing camps within a single party is uncommon. However, a party that has such high ambitions to beat BN has to be more mindful of their strategy to face any opponent, including PAS.

This is following from the meeting of the component chiefs of Pakatn Harapan yesterday, which solidified that there will be no cooperation between the coalition and PAS in the upcoming GE14, at once foreshadowing three-cornered fights.

Another reason why the general elections would not favour Harapan is the fact that there is no strong and influential leadership in each of its component parties. Dr Wan Azizah Wan Islamil has clearly failed to personify a character which is bold in setting the opposition’s direction. She has even failed to settle problems within her own party, and now there are rifts between certain key individuals crucial to PKR.

The 100-day manifesto presented by Harapan a few months ago includes within it a few items that will be difficult to implement within the first 100 days, assuming they capture Putrajaya.

The abolition of the goods and services tax (GST) is a step that makes no sense. It is clear that our country will incur a loss in revenue amounting up to RM 42 billion a year to ensure the robustness of our national income.

There is no use in abolishing GST if Harapan were to just introduce another form of taxation. In fact, Harapan should look into the implementation of the tax system itself. The GST, also referred to as value added tax (VAT) overseas, is used by almost every country in the world. From their example, it is seen that this tax is truly beneficial as a source of income for the country to ensure economic growth.

If Harapan is serious in making sure our nation is clean from such corruption scandals and abuses of power that they have been lamenting in every ceramah, the question remains why have they not included the separation of the roles of the prime minister and the portfolio of the ministry of finance? Why have they not included asset declaration as one of their items in the 100 day manifesto?

Harapan knows very well how incredibly powerful the Ministry of Finance is in propelling the nation’s economy. The very chairman of Harapan, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, helped shaped our economy during the 1997 Asian economic crisis while conveniently absorbing the ministry into his role without a solid reason. His actions have rippled into the effects felt today, and it is clear that Harapan has overlooked the need to accept and detail this fact.

If these issues are not addressed and solved immediately from the very roots of the coalition’s leadership, Harapan will be forced to wait another five years to return as serious contenders of BN and PAS, as GE14 does not look to be theirs.