Did any of you tune in to the forum that lasted more than 2 hours last Saturday? Titled “Terpaling Terus Terang”, the forum featured former Pandan MP, Rafizi Ramli, Permatang Pauh MP, Nurul Izzah Anwar and Ledang MP, Syed Ibrahim Syed Nor as moderator. It was made live on Rafizi’s Facebook, Youtube and Twitter Space and Izzah’s Facebook.
A few days before the forum, Rafizi posted on his website and shared insights on why KEADILAN and Pakatan Harapan (as a whole) are not popular these days even though time and time again the deceits and misleads on Dato Seri Najib Razak, Dato Seri Zahid Hamidi and most of the people in the Barisan Nasional bloc were proven in Court (both local and international). In the same post, Rafizi also informed that he would return to the political arena and contest for KEADILAN’s Vice President post when the time comes.
This news brought opposing reactions from people in KEADILAN. On one side, supporters welcome news of his return with open arms while the other side kept questioning his intentions and his “disappearance” for the past two years — even though he clearly explained the reasons in his web post and even many times before that.
Through a regular citizen’s eye, this just shows a lack of unity in KEADILAN’s camp. When they should be working together to make their camp stronger — such as coming up with ideas to prove to the Rakyat their worthiness, working on strategies to help Rakyat overcome hardships in this time of crisis and showing unity and trust in the leadership instead of accepting frogs — they decided to bicker with each other instead.
And people in other camps would just clap their hands.
So this — among other reasons — was why Rafizi sat in that “Terpaling Terus Terang” forum to further clarify his reasons for returning, things he had contributed quietly to KEADILAN during his two-year “rest” and many more.
One point that stood out during that forum was when he gave reasons why out of the three political coalitions in Malaysia today, namely BN, PN and PH, the Rakyat are more inclined to choose the top two (BN and PN). Rafizi said, even fence-sitters would choose the top two if the political dynamics within PH are not changed fast. This can be seen from the last four small and state elections, including the most recent Johor state election.
Most Rakyat opposes the idea of having a “big tent” or planning to collaborate with a coalition that only very recently had stabbed PH in the back. If the idea of having a “big tent” is just because they think it could make them win the next election, they should not be surprised if the Rakyat (including the fence-sitters) would choose BN. Such objective would only anger the Rakyat more, making them feel that even the opposition bloc is the same as BN — only going after power. Hence, KEADILAN and the PH coalition need to make a 180o change quickly.
The other interesting thing since Rafizi’s announcement and the live forum was him calling out Najib Razak’s plea to have the government bailout Sapura Energy Bhd. He said it was unfair to use billions of public funds on a small group of corporates, especially when the government has bailed that company before — although he did feel sorry for employees that are facing an uncertain future. It is true though. The whole country’s business sectors are facing a crisis and we all could use some help.
Not long after Rafizi gave out this statement, Najib Razak then posted on his Facebook page calculations and reasons why his plea should not be dismissed along with other posts targeting Rafizi.
So, will we start seeing more of the fabled-facts-and-figures-Najib-Razak since the 1MDB shenanigans now that Rafizi is back?
Aliza M. is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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