Alan Ling
MIRI: Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) takes seriously the coalition’s loss in the Semenyih by-election last Saturday as a political setback, saying it is a timely wake-up call for the PH federal government.
Senator Alan Ling, who is the secretary of Sarawak PH, said it is imperative for PH leadership to identify the cause of the loss and take serious measures to deliver what is expected by the majority of the people.
“The loss of PH candidate in Semenyih should be a wake-up call which came at the right time,” he said.
The senator was responding to the differing response from both sides of the political divide on whether PH is losing traction after riding into power on a wave of populist election manifesto on May 9 last year.
Ling said it is pointless to find reasons to blame others for the defeat but PH must accept it gracefully and adopt a positive approach to regain the support of the people which put PH into power.
“I am optimistic the people will throw their support to us when they see and feel the results following the pragmatic policies of the federal government,” he added.
He also said the Semenyih or even the Cameron Highlands result cannot be taken as a yardstick to predict the outcome of the impending Sarawak state election.
“This is because Sarawak’s political scenario is quite different – at least there is no politicking of race and religion in Sarawak.”
He said PH would strive to make the reforms felt by the grassroots and one of the most important agendas is to right the wrong concept that bribery is a Malaysian way of life.
“Only if people’s mindset is corrected to emphasise on integrity and value the principle of good governance, then the society will be improved and the political situation will be more matured.”
He claims a two-party system is healthy for democracy to thrive, provided both sides emphasise on people-centric policies, ideology, values and policies and not competing on who is more Malay and indulging in divisive politics between Malays and non-Malays.
“I hope that Malaysians have the wisdom to see the danger of PAS and Umno playing the racial card which will slowly destroy the racial harmony in our plural society.”
Ling said PH will from now on pay more attention to effective communication with the people.