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Wednesday 22 December 2010

The Inordinate Obsession Over Three-Corner Fights

I confess that I once had my doubts about the third force.

Like many other concerned Malaysians, I anguished over a potential three-corner fight which may potentially give Barisan Nasional the upper hand.

Most people really want BN out of Putrajaya and its politicians either behind bars or in the zoo.

BN in the mean time has vowed to reclaim Putrajaya at all costs. The best way would be bribe Pakatan Rakyat MPs to jump over to their side.

The problem is, it has worked before. There was a huge Frog Festival that ended in the Perak democratic crisis, where Perak returned to BN hands due to MPs leaping over to the other side.

This has to be nipped in the bud. We have no room for error in the next General Elections.

Misbehaving MPs from PR have not been admonished nor has any disciplinary action been taken against them. There is merely silence.

In the midst of these discussions on how to take this nation forward, the scum at the bottom of the sewage pond is unable to resist spinning for its masters.

NST discredits Pakatan Rakyat by misquoting various civil liberty leaders with attempts like Some PR reps not fit to walk a dog. This agitates various anti-BN segments, to the extent of losing focus on the big picture.

The big picture is that we need good policy-makers in parliament, not just random and unqualified representatives of a political party belonging to the Opposition.

The MCLM president Haris Ibrahim, gave a very good example during the first public forum held by the MCLM to engage with the citizens and address their concerns.

He asked if anyone was from the Wangsa Maju constituency. There wasn't, but most people knew that Wee Choo Keong, a BN-friendly froggie is the current MP.

"Assuming that Wee decides to kiss and make up with PKR," Haris postulated, "and they decided to let bygones be bygones..."

The audience was silent.

"What if PKR decided to forget the past and allow Wee to run for MP again, and he was running against our independent candidate Imtiaz, should we withdraw Imtiaz to avoid having a three-corner fight?"

There was audible objection. "Hell no," I privately mouthed.

"Ah," said Haris smugly, "so it depends on the situation then?"

And that was it in a nutshell.

The MCLM is not advocating a three-corner fight to make things difficult for Pakatan Rakyat. Everyone with half a brain-cell knows that Barisan Nasional is chronically incapable of reform and thus has to be removed.

But good people need to be voted into parliament. Let us not lose focus of that.

A very good description of MCLM can be found HERE. It may be a little deep, but it is certainly well thought-out.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Ms Cranky

Strategic thinking is needed e.g.

If PR fields a dubious candidate, then a 3-cornered fight is the way to go (because if the PR candidate wins in a 2-cornered fight and then defects, this is no gain to the progressive cause).

If PR fields a good candidate, then progressives should back him or her and work to ensure the victory of this person

Cheers,

Phua Kai Lit

Crankster said...

Exactly.

Glad someone understands.