Just adding a link to an editorial in WauBebas.org that I agree with wholeheartedly. I don’t think there’s any need for me to summarize what’s been happening. All I want to add is that in my opinion, the failure is much more on the part of the Pakatan Rakyat than on the Barisan Nasional. The BN is a known quantity. Sleaze on their part at least is expected. The PR however had a chance to make a real difference following the General Elections of 2008 but flubbed badly. Instead of settling down in the constituencies that they did win and trying to do a good job at running them, proving in the process that the PR is indeed capable of governing, under Anwar Ibrahim they’ve been obsessed with winning power at all levels everywhere.

Well, that’s backfired badly on them, and the tit-for-tat attacks and grandstanding have only made Malaysian politics that much dirtier. The PR should have been patient instead and trusted that if they’ve demonstrated their competence and maturity, the Malaysian voters would justly reward them at the next GE. As it stands now, what they’ve done is shown that they’re really just as messed up as the BN. As Wan Saiful Wan Jan wrote:

With so many opposition MPs in the federal parliament and the various state legislative assemblies, Malaysian politicians had a golden opportunity to strengthen the role of the Opposition. But no one seems interested in pursuing this agenda. Opposition parties at the state level, from both the National Front and the People’s Coalition have failed to organise themselves accordingly. Most cannot even form a functioning state shadow cabinet.

It is the same case at Federal level. In the eyes of the public, Anwar’s People’s Coalition, has been focusing more on luring National Front MPs to defect. They continue to fail to form a cohesive shadow cabinet. At times, statements made by People’s Coalition MPs have been at odds with each other, even though they are on the same team.

At the same time, it’s become clearer that the global economic recession isn’t abating anytime soon. Instead of constructively engaging with the public about what’s happening and what the government should be doing to weather the bad economic times, our newspaper headlines are instead filled with sex scandals, who has the right to stay in the official Menteri Besar’s residence in Perak state and whether or not there’s an assassin running around trying to kill the Chief Minister of Penang. It makes for lurid reading to be sure, but it’s not what we should all be really talking about.