Pakatan needs broad-based leadership alternative

DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang has said that it is more urgent for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (pix) to consolidate the Opposition before the next general election, instead of trying to topple the Perikatan Nasional government.

The DAP leader’s statement makes sense on the basis the very obsession to toppled a government through cajoling of opportunistic MPs to jump ship seems to be centred on a particular leader’s individualistic ambition and moves that tend to override the consensus aspect of coalition politics.

The question is, does coalition politics in Pakatan Harapan merely has to do with the consensus of its elite leaders, or does it genuinely represent the grassroots communities, NGOs, environmentalists and the marginalised in its national consolidation?

Too much of politicking has blinded Pakatan Harapan leaders on the importance of hearing the voice of the complex grassroots communities and currently we are in the midst of the next general election, which could be called anytime in 2021.

While it might be too late, it is vital for Pakatan leaders to envision an innovative approach to how it elects its leadership, especially for prime ministerial candidate in the future.

We could learn from the primaries in the United States presidential election where various candidates with their own strengths and leadership qualities offer themselves for the presidency and they debate in public and go through various states campaigning, and finally a strong candidate for the presidency is chosen among them by party supporters.

In the Malaysian scenario, it is about electing a prime minister who has a broader support among the community.

Pakatan Harapan could adopt this model but modifying it to the context of Malaysian laws and realities.

It would need brainstorming among the enlightened intellectuals and community leaders in the coalition.

Pakatan Harapan should evolve to create more leaders who are ready to take over the country instead of depending on a single leader who seems to be less answerable to the grassroots communities.

Therefore, it’s time Pakatan Harapan create a broad-based leadership among its coalition by bringing its best leaders to helm Malaysia in the years to come.

What the rakyat needs is a leadership that emerges from the grassroots and not elite and urban-driven leaders that characterises much of the Pakatan Harapan leadership in the current form.

Reforms should start from within the leadership which respects grassroots aspirations and its complex web of political reasoning, before one could envision consolidation and a distinctive alternative.

Ronald Benjamin

Ipoh