YOURSAY | ‘Has it any idea of what it takes to win over the people?’

Analysts point fingers at the opposition for poor show

Samu: Being in no-man's land, it is difficult for PAS not to play the spoiler's role. Even if PAS could be co-opted into Pakatan Harapan, many non-Malays would not vote for it. Going forward, the reality is going to be a three-cornered fight.

But what was obvious to all voters, was a total lack of fire among the Harapan components. There was an obvious lack of leadership and coherence. PKR was supposed to be 'the glue that binds.'

But in these twin by-elections, everyone could feel that party deputy president Azmin Ali and just about the entire PKR leadership were disinterested and non-committal in supporting the Amanah candidates.

They might have shown up occasionally, but they never intended to fire up their base. So with such a lacklustre campaign, don't expect the simpletons to put the nation first, especially if the opposition leaders are sending out all the vibes of putting themselves first.

Yes, I agree, the opposition front is the problem. I remember former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad lamented that if opposition was disunited, it would lose. And lose it did.

Mosquitobrain: The present Umno-PAS relationship will not last come GE14, unless PAS is prepared to hand over Kelantan to Umno.

Harapan will contest in Kelantan and turn all seats into three-cornered fights – BN versus PAS versus Harapan. Let PAS taste its own medicine for its greed, lack of principles, and insincerity.

The following factors contributed to Pakatan's poor showing in the recent twin by-elections:

1. Pakatan's internal bickering.

2. Wrong strategies - by focusing on national instead of local issues.

3. The shifting of non-Malay votes to BN.

4. Both seats were BN-Umno incumbents.

5. Lower voter turnout - outstation voters did not return to vote because they felt the twin by-elections would not make much difference.

6. Cash is king - voters went for cash and other goodies due to hard times.

Pakatan components parties (excluding PAS) need to come up with a proper plan if they want to do well in GE14.

Anonyxyz: What is the definition between a common person just giving their two cents worth of opinion, and what Malaysiakini terms as a 'political analyst'? What qualifications do these people have, to be perceived as experts as compared to others?

They just talked on the weaknesses of the opposition, but never on the unfair campaigning of BN, which only resulted in wins with just a slightly higher majority, against the combined opposition votes.

Anonymous$&@?: Please stop talking of a one-on-one fight. There will no longer be such a thing.

Going forward, PAS will be the spoiler in the guise of an opposition party to ensure BN wins. People, just wake up and see the true face of PAS. It’s a wolf in sheepskin.

Blogsmith: Why point fingers at opposition? Pakatan Harapan offered PAS to contest Kuala Kangsar while it contested Sungai Besar, but PAS was stubborn and insisted on contesting both, giving Pakatan Harapan no choice.

Anonymous #31081882: As I see it, urban areas are strongly with Harapan, semi-urban is 50/50 and rural is strongly BN. So in these twin by-elections, the opposition voters in semi-urban areas are split between Harapan and PAS.

Harapan is now between a rock and a hard place. PAS under Abdul Hadi Awang and the ulama faction, doesn't quite fit into the progressive Harapan coalition, but have sizeable support in the rural and semi-rural areas.

For Harapan, working with PAS is 'a damned if you do, and damned if you don't', situation. The way forward for Harapan is to get Amanah to build strong support in the semi-rural areas, and get PAS to fight BN in the rural areas.

Spinning: The opposition really needs to get their act together and fast. Too much internal fighting, disagreement on who to contest seats, lack of a good leader and direction - the list goes on and on.

BN will win GE14, probably with 75 percent of the popular vote, no matter how corrupted the regime is. They would rather support a united party rather than a party in disarray.

HaveAGreatDay: Yes, in my constituency if it is just a choice of PKR or BN, I will send in a protest vote.

The opposition is in such disarray, and I point my finger at PKR for being one of the main causes, with Azmin as the prime culprit.

Amateur: Besides the gerrymandering and a non-level playing field, I think the crux of the problem is the electorate.

Whether it's immaturity, selfishness or lack of political awareness, the majority of them simply can't distinguish between good and evil. They would likely be cursed by their offspring who will suffer under a badly chosen government.

Hibiscus: Another possible reason for low voter turnout was that the voters viewed these two by-elections as egoistic chest-beating trips for the contesting parties.

With nothing substantial for the voters to identify with, the party that was able to meet their immediate needs, was the one that won.

Both sides resorted to bribery. But the bashing of Najib and his wife by Harapan went so much into overdrive that it became repulsive.

Retnam: In another two weeks, Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar will be forgotten. But 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion theft will continue until the foreign governments stop investigating.

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