Are They Ready?

Lolo was quoted earlier to have said that PAS was the "Government-in-waiting". The loose coalition Pakatan Rakyat without a doubt made sweeping victories in 5 states in the last general election. Since then, they remained as a respectable opposition, no sign of financial leadership or great policy makers.

Speaking of leadership, PAS has sidelined Anwar as their de-facto leader. If Pakatan Rakyat wins the election, who would be their selection for the covetous Prime Ministership (they can't even agree on appointments in municipals) . It is open season among the three parties, which since the general election are plagued with internal politicking, power struggle and finger pointing. No synchrony with regards to "unity" government. Welcome to multi-racial politics, fellow egalitarians!

They have yet to convince the bright-minded Malaysians that they are ready to lead this country to greater heights. Are they ready to accept the importance of English? Will they take the populist stand and strip Petronas' profit to suit the voters' sentiments? Populist ideology as witnessed in Latin America has caused severe inflation over 2000% especially in Brazil and Argentina. Are they ready to make real, tough decisions even if it means going against popular sentiments, i.e. reducing subsidies?

If their own party struggle and agenda could be altered at their whim and fancy in the case of Hudud and NEP, could they chew on more delicate and complex issues at Federal level?

Is there anyone in Pakatan Rakyat that we see as Prime Minister material? Hadi? Anwar (close, but no cigar)? Nik Aziz? Forget Nizar who has lost his own state government from defections. Forget Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng or Karpal (or would they do another "Perak" where the new Malay Prime Minister is subject to the will of the cabinet and a more chauvinist non-Malay DPM). Malaysia is not ready to see a non-Malay at the apex of the Executive Branch.

Where is their shadow cabinet? Have they given fruitful discussions on national issues besides lambasting the government for deciding things against their will? What is their stand on NAP, what is their solution for the fragmented school system, what is their stand on digging ourselves out of the economic downturn hole? Oh, they can't portray themselves as being more sophisticated than the ruling coalition, lest their ideas be imitated!

The sentiment in last general election was clear; people wanted a stronger opposition to keep Barisan Nasional in check. Nothing more, nothing less. No doubt corruption was perceived to be rampant within Barisan Nasional leadership but we see a similar trend in Selangor and Penang when Fairuz vacated his seat in lieu of allegations of corruption. Power corrupts. Business intertwines with politics. People who think otherwise are plainly idiotic and should come out from under the coconut shell. Other sentiments have been driven by pure speculations in the blogosphere realm, baseless allegations coupled with juicy gossips in the case of postings by self-exiled RPK. The two combination that sells newspapers and enhances your blog hits, politics + gossips.

Most young, urban voters would confess that they had voted for PR because BN seemed to be lost in the political wilderness for the last 5 years, not so much of PR being a reckoning force. Looking at the line up of wakil rakyat on the PR side would be testament to the fact that they lack depth in leadership. Amateur videographer and blogger do not count.

If you're ready to see Petronas go bust because of subsidies,
if you're ready to see 5 school systems remain status quo,
if you're obviously mentally-blocked and perceive that NEP is UMNO and UMNO is NEP, NEP is Malay Rights and NEP = more projects to the Malays
if you're ready for leaders who can't decide whether to implement Islamic laws because it is written in their party constitution but change their mind because Karpal said "over my dead body",

Vote for them!