Hijacking public opinion with a pre-emptive move

Writer: Sun Tian Mei

Sin Chew, July 14, 2016

To certain Penang DAP members, it is more important than anything else to rally massive support in Penang before Lim Guan Eng’s trial is concluded so that Lim can face up to the Malaysian’s judiciary system.

It can be expected that if a snap election is held in Penang, netizens would go on-line endlessly in support of Lim to stand against the judiciary and against political persecution of Barisan Nasional.

It would be similar to the 505 general election when Penang people’s political conviction was torn apart. However, what could be torn apart this time around is not only about the political conviction of Penang’s development but also national development. Just because of Lim Guan Eng, the people of Penang have to pay a hefty social cost.

Why Penang DAP discussed the “dissolution of the state assembly and a snap election” and used it as an answer to the prosecution of Chief Minister and DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng on corruption charges? And why Deputy Chief Minister and DAP deputy secretary general P Ramasamy chose to inform the media even before such a topic was taken up to DAP central committee and  before consulting Pakatan Harapan partners like PKR and PAN?

This actually is a tactic to gauge public opinion by politicians in a democratic country before an action is taken. If public response is enthusiastic, the proposal would be implemented based on the strong fundamentals. On the other hand, if public response was cold, the proponent would excuse himself saying that it was only a jest.

Ramasamy is not the first person to play the trick. Countless politicians inside and outside the country have done it before. However, the fact that Ramasamy had not consulted Pakatan Harapan partners before making the proposal, such a move seemed to have gone against their principle. I am not at all surprised if leaders of the two parties concerned only learned of the proposal through the print media or the Internet just as we readers did.

Ramasamy, or DAP leaders who instructed Ramasamy to reveal such information to the media, may have realized that PKR and PAN would be against the dissolution of the state assembly for their own reasons. And thus, they took the preemptive move by making the announcement. If the idea was well supported, they would then make use of the mass support and force their partners to accept a snap election. If that was the case, PKR and PAN would have to join the fight even how unprepared they are. Whether they would survive or perish, it would then be a matter of fate.

To some DAP leaders, it is more important than anything else to amass popular support via a snap election to support Lim Guan Eng against Malaysia’s judiciary system before the conclusion of his trial on corruption charges.

With the popularity of Lim Guan Eng and leaders of Penang DAP and PAN leaders in Penang, together with the weak MCA and Gerakan, many would agree with me that Pakatan Harapan would win at least another round of election no matter when the next election is held. But if Pakatan Harapan leaders are forced to go for a snap election in Penang as a referendum on Lim Guan Eng, it is tantamount to hijacking public opinion and forcing it on leaders of Pakatan Harapan partners.

Even if Pakatan Harapan won two-thirds of the state seats, so what?  What purpose does it serve if the snap election yielded nothing except the wastage of money and tearing the society apart?