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 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...