Malaysians really want a credible opposition

[superadmin]

Remember when Pakatan Harapan secured their surprise election victory back in 2018? Many expressed their joy as if it were Merdeka Day relived. There was so much hope about a Malaysia Baru being born.

Now, remember the state elections in Johor. Melaka and Sarawak before that. The rekindled Barisan Nasional seems to have wiped away the blip of history where PH was the government, as if it never happened.

It’s almost four years since that general election in 2018, and there is a completely changed political landscape. We have to ask the question why?

One thing those observing Malaysia at the time would clearly remember was the growing loss of hope and later disillusionment with the PH government over its short 20 months in power.

In the beginning, everyone, even Umno supporters, had held hopes of seeing real reforms, only to have their hopes shattered by the coalition’s complete failure to deliver.

Then there were the nasty party splits, symbolised with the treacherous defection of the Azmin Ali group from PKR during the Sheraton Putsch, which created what many have described as a ‘backdoor’ government.

This enraged many. However, Anwar Ibrahim as the ‘then prime minister in waiting’ failed to take the opportunity to rally PH supporters to the moral cause of winning back the government. With the advent of the pandemic, the rakyat lost their rage as their lives turned towards the need to just survive.

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