ANALYSIS As the dust settles on the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections, many in the opposition parties have tried to play down their defeat.

PAS, for example, hailed the fact that it could capture about half the opposition votes in both by-elections as evidence of the party’s strength, and claimed credit for at least half of all votes Pakatan Rakyat received in the past.

On Pakatan Harapan’s side, Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) hailed the fact that a nine-month-old party could garner half of the opposition’s vote share as a success against PAS, which existed even before independence.

As much as the opposition parties would like to peddle good news to keep morale up, the attempts to gloss over the twin polls is tantamount to a refusal to face the difficult realities confronting the opposition.

Malaysiakini takes at a look the statements coming from the opposition after the by-elections and why they are problematic.