SHAH ALAM – As the discussion on the date of the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15) is becoming a hot debate among Malaysians, Arus Anak Muda chairman questions whether the political parties are ready to face the upcoming election and capable of offering their manifestos.
Dr Zokhri Idris said from the non-governmental organisation (NGO)’s point of view, the readiness of the parties to contest in the GE15 should not be in term of technicalities only.
"For me, it has to be sooner or later and the question is whether the political parties are ready to have an election.
"For both sides (of the fence) how do we ensure that the rakyat or the people out there would have conscious thinking?
"Where do they align themselves as we are not seeing anything on the table,” he said.
Zokhri further added that the readiness to face GE15 should not be only in terms of technicalities or strategies but also what the parties could offer in the election.
He was a panellist at Sinar Daily’s Wacana English Edition titled ‘Resetting the Political Landscape for GE15’, which also featured Umno Youth Chief Exco Ikmal Hazlan Ikmal Hisham and Kampung Tunku assemblyman, Lim Yi Wei.
As for Ikmal, he said the GE15 should be held this year.
"Personally, I think it’s because we are in the middle of inflation, so a stable government is important for us to stir any policies.
"So in order to foster any policies, decision making or any aisle where we want to go, a stable government indeed is important,” he said.
Ikmal added that the government might lose one seat with the imprisonment of Datuk Seri Najib Razak, which would not be a stable government in his view.
On the other hand, Lim said as people suffered from political fatigue, thus it would be better if the election were held in the next year.
"The election in Sabah, Sarawak, Melaka and Johor, there’s not much to excite the base. Our base was excited when Najib went for his sentence.
"But that was not sustainable enough as Zokri mentioned. It should be about policies and I don’t think both sides had enough time to put forward the policies.
"But as a whole we don’t see that come together and people don’t know how to choose,” she said.
Lim added that she noticed a new trend where people now didn’t look at parties but at parliament when the individual previously served in a particular area.
Hence, in her stand it was a very different dynamic and more time should be provided.