Earlier GE15 means sooner we can move on, says Wong Chen
SHAH ALAM - Timely for the 15th General Election to happen soon, says PKR lawmaker Wong Chen.
He said public sentiments shows they want an early election as they were tired of the lack of direction and worried about the country's current condition especially the economy.
An election, he said, was an attempt to move on from what has happened for the past two years.
"People tend to believe that if there is an early election, whichever party or coalition wins, would bring a new government and a new direction because the current Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional mix is dysfunctional.
"It is just a bad situation for all and it is very real.
"When you see them fighting in Melaka, Johor - it is a clear sign that they are not united.
"If they are not united in the political front, how are they united in the policy front," he told Sinar Daily.
The Subang Jaya MP said Pakatan Harapan (PH) was ready to face the impending election but need to sort some things out first.
"We just have sort things out," he said in reference to PH. For PKR, he said, they needed to finish the party elections first which will be done soon.
"We can move on from there," he said.
However, Wong also signaled his disagreement with the "big tent" strategy, a term used to describe the move to unite all opposition parties against BN in GE15.
Some PH leaders including PKR's incumbent secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Amanah deputy president Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub had previously said PH should be open to discussions with any party ahead of GE15.
However, PKR vice president Rafizi Ramli rejected those calls, saying that it was better to "start from zero" to win the voter's hearts as opposed to cooperating with other parties to win back Putrajaya.
During Sinar Harian's Berani Semuka debate between Saifuddin and Rafizi on Wednesday, the latter said PH should ride on the wave of public rage and frustration into GE15.
Rafizi also disputed Saifuddin’s claim that negotiations to form a big tent had ceased long ago, alleging that it continued until the recent Johor polls two months back when certain PKR leaders supposedly met with Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. Saifuddin said PKR and PH have long moved on from the idea of cooperating with rival parties.
Calls for a general election became more aggressive in March by Umno's top leadership after BN's landslide victory in Johor where they won 40 of 56 state assembly seats.
However, earlier this month Umno veteran and Padang Rengas MP Datuk Sri Nazri Aziz told the party's top leadership to stop pushing for the dissolution of Parliament in the near future.
He said the people would punish the party for the disrupting the stability that they were currently enjoying if the party were to make that move.
He also said Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah also wanted a stable government.
