United we stand, divided we fall

COMMENT | Each political party is formed based on a specific event in time.

In the case of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), it was the cry for "Reformasi"; while the Democratic Action Party (DAP) emerged from the shadow of the People’s Action Party (PAP) in Singapore after the separation of Malaysia and Singapore.

Parti Peribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) has its own unique point of departure too: it was formed after persistent efforts to seek better governance through internal reforms within the United Malay National Organization (Umno) was ignored time and again by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Regardless of how each party was formed, no political parties must fight the next electoral war based on previous victories of the past. After all, each political battle is different from the ones before.

In fact, doing precisely that, or fighting each conflict on the basis of how the previous one was won, is how most military generals win some battles only to lose the next war. For no two conflicts are alike.

Some military generals, for example, like to plan the next war based on the previous victories they had registered. Such strategies often result in failure since every war differs from the earlier ones.

Take the 13th general election, for instance. On surface, Umno had won all 54 seats in Felda. But it is also a fact that PAS had never made any serious inroads into these strongholds before, let alone PKR.

Yet, if PKR insists on emulating what PAS had left off, by vying for these seats, what has hitherto been a straight fight, which PAS would have lost anyway, would be a three-cornered fight, which would allow UMNO to win all these Felda seats again.

Wouldn’t it be more sensible to attempt a new strategy, where Bersatu, guided by the track record of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin Yassin and Mukhriz Mahathir, all of whom had been in the government before, be given the chance to select some of the most capable men from Felda areas to fight for these seats?

The idea is not to agree or disagree. But to reflect on what has failed before, and how the opposition front has to come up with newer and better strategies to strike fear in the formation of Barisan Nasional(BN) even before the first electoral salvo...