What the opposition did right ten years ago

Barisan Alternatif had a Joint Election Manifesto (Manifesto Bersama BA), which was about what BA wanted and not about what keADILan, DAP, PAS or PRM wanted. What keADILan, DAP, PAS and PRM want does not matter. It is what BA wants that counts.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

In 1999, almost as soon as Parti Keadilan Nasional (keADILan) was launched on 4th April, the opposition got itself organised. Together with DAP, PAS and PRM, the opposition coalition called Barisan Alternatif (Alternative Front) was created to house the four parties.

But it was a loose coalition, unfortunately, and although many were of the opinion that Barisan Alternatif (BA) should be legally registered with its own logo and flag, this was not done. The reason given was that you need at least seven parties to register a coalition so the only four in BA would not meet the requirements.

Nevertheless, in spite of the loose coalition having no real legal status or its own flag and logo, the opposition did not do too badly in the November 1999 general election. It not only retained Kelantan with a very comfortable majority but it won Terengganu as well. And in Kedah the opposition won 8 out of the 15 parliament seats. It did not win enough state seats to be able to form the new Kedah state government but exactly one year later it managed to deny Barisan Nasional its two-thirds majority in the state assembly when keADILan won the Lunas by-election.

There were many creative things which BA did in the seven months leading to the November 1999 general election, plus the year or so after that. It formed a presidential council where the top leaders of the four parties met once a month to come out with its policies, strategies and programmes. It had a media coordination unit that issued press releases and statements on behalf of all four parties but under the name of BA.

In fact, in the run-up to the general election between Nomination Day and Polling Day, the BA media coordination unit held a daily press conference every noon so that the media could be updated with the latest developments. And the late Rustam Sani from PRM was in charge of this unit and was the official spokesman for BA. The individual parties -- keADILan, DAP, PAS and PRM -- were not encouraged to hold their separate press conferences or issue separate media statements as they did not want any conflicting statements to the BA official stand.

The opposition coalition had a shadow cabinet with a full committee in each ‘ministry’ that was headed by a ‘minister’. And they would monitor the performance of the Barisan Nasional-headed ministries. For example, a few days before the government tabled its budget in parliament every year around November, BA would hold its own budget presentation in parliament and the press would be invited and encouraged to ask questions.

The opposition, of course, already knew what the government budget was (in spite of the OSA) so all they needed to do was to counter-propose a better budget. On more than one occasion the government was forced to go back to the drawing board to revise its budget so that the opposition budget would not outshine the government budget. At least the opposition was able to force the government to give the voters and taxpayers a better deal even though the government and not the opposition got the credit for this.

There was a research and development unit that did all the research and helped prepare data and statistics for the opposition parliamentarians. There were many an occasion when the opposition ‘minister’ knew more about the goings-on and developments in the government ministries compared to the minister himself. The minister would be left red-faced and would beg the parliament Speaker for time to reply to the question in writing because he or she did not know the answer to the question the opposition had raised.

The BA Members of Parliament outshone the BN Members of Parliament, even those with Cabinet positions, by far. The many units, committees, think tanks, etc., set up to assist the opposition parties and its leaders were so efficient and professional that the government MPs ended up looking rather stupid by comparison.

Back in 1999, the opposition comprised of politicians, activists, academicians and intellectuals. It was a formidable team. There were professors, lecturers, journalists, writers, and whatnot in the team. Barisan Alternatif got some of the best brains in the business. And these people were very creative and progressive and were prepared to try many new things, most which worked with extremely positive results. This team really gave new meaning to the term politik baru (new politics).

Barisan Alternatif had a Joint Election Manifesto (Manifesto Bersama BA), which was about what BA wanted and not about what keADILan, DAP, PAS or PRM wanted. What keADILan, DAP, PAS and PRM want does not matter. It is what BA wants that counts. And the BA Joint Election Manifesto was very clear and the voters loved it. It was a fantastic balance that went down well with the voters.

Then PAS decided to do what was good for its own party and not what was good for the coalition. It proposed Islamic laws in Terengganu. And then DAP decided to do what was good for its own party and not what was good for the coalition. It left the coalition in protest and in opposition to PAS’s Islamic laws proposal. Then, much later though, keADILan and PRM decided to merge into one party.

Then, in the following general election in 2004, the opposition parties decided to not work as an opposition coalition but instead each party would go solo. In some constituencies there were three- or four-corner contests. The opposition not only lost badly in these three- or four-corner seats but in some instances the candidates lost their deposits as well.

The opposition got slaughtered. It was like Custer’s last stand. DAP, PAS, keADILan and PRM thought they did not need each other. They thought they could take on the 14-member coalition called Barisan Nasional, plus each other in the same process, and still form the next government. They could not even retain their deposits let alone win the election.

It was so embarrassing.

The opposition had become arrogant. It got too big for its shoes. It thought even God Himself could not stop the opposition from forming the next government. And they did not need a coalition to do that. One opposition party can take on the 14-member Barisan Nasional, plus the other opposition parties as well, and will win all the seats. Single-handedly, one opposition party can win all the states and enough parliament seats to form the federal government.

I suppose they thought the same thing about the Titanic when they said even God Himself could not sink this ship. But it was sunk -- just like how the opposition parties were sunk back in 2004. It was taught a lesson it will never forget in a long time.

Of course, in 2008, the opposition parties came back together as Pakatan Rakyat. And it did better than in 1999 because of that. But this is still not enough. Pakatan Rakyat needs to reflect on what BA did back in 1999 and repeat that success. In fact, today, it can now do better than what it did in 1999 because, today, more people believe in the opposition than they did in 1999.

The opposition is, again, starting to become arrogant. Let us hope they do not start to get swollen headed like they did back in 2000-2001. If they do then the next election, whenever that may be, would be a repeat of the 2004 disaster.

There are many smart people out there who are prepared to contribute their time and brains to the opposition cause. Some would even spend their own money doing so and do not expect any compensation. But the opposition should stop thinking that it is already very smart and that it does not need any outside help. Everyone needs help, in particular the opposition. You just need to know who to ask. And if you are too big-headed and too proud and think that you need no one because you are clever enough to do everything on your own, then expect to be taught a lesson come the next election.

And it will be a lesson you truly deserve.