anwar won permatang pauh...what would be his next course of action? part 2

anwar is surely now busy criss-crossing the country, trying to entice bn mps to change party. but he may find the effort difficult as some of the bn mps have been brought to a "study trip" somewhere in taiwan. again, supporters of anwar believe that he is not telling jokes and the change in government will materialise come september 16. i received an sms from someone yesterday asking my opinion about anwar's move. my response--which will be the subject of my entry today is--"i do not support pakatan rakyat taking over from bn through party crossover as i would prefer anwar playing his role as strong opposition leader in the parliament and convince us that he and his pakatan people can lead this country. but if the bn does not wake up from its slumber, what choice is there left for us?"

i am happy that anwar won in permatang pauh. not that i am a supporter of pakatan nor a follower of anwar. i have seen parliamentary debates so many times but i am not satisfied with the way our mps debating about issues. i am not saying that they are all useless; some do not find debating and speaking from hard facts as serious vocation anymore. i have seen our mps reading from texts without really engaging the issues at hand. at times, some would prefer trading childish comments and belittling the other fellow mps. hopefully with anwar's return into the parliament, we would see more quality debates and that our bn mps would be much better prepared in facing the now strong opposition presence. i hope anwar and his pakatan people would turn the parliament into a forum where serious issues are debated and solutions to our country's problems sought.

simply put, anwar's return and the growing demand for "opposition politics" are good for malaysia and for open intellectual discourse. opposition politics, to my mind, is not necessarily a "bad thing" as most people think. strictly speaking, it would allow the rakyat to see two differing views and decide for themselves which one is good for the country. if handled well, the bn government under pak lah will benefit a lot by allowing the opposition parties to take part in country's development.

what do i mean when i said that the "bn should wake up from its slumber"? some of the things that the bn can do to appease anwar's rise is to concentrate on developing the people's well-being and start implementing its reform agenda. all the allegations against the bn's leadership should not be deliberately swept under the carpet through means of censorship or implementation of questionable legal recourse. doing these will only aggravate the people's ill-feeling and would reinforce the claims that bn government's determination in getting rid of corrupt elements is just a "public relations exercise". if the allegations are not true, then the bn should engage its detractors by giving facts for the people to judge themselves. if they are true, then the only thing that the bn could do is to admit its mistakes and go on with its reform agenda. pak lah has good intentions in developing and reforming this country. but what he may be lacking is the support from his inner circles who may resist changes or may not want their wrongdoings exposed. just go on with what you think is good for the country pak lah...i am sure many people will support you!