KJ says he will assemble a shadow cabinet if he becomes UMNO president. A shadow cabinet is a good idea. It's something Pakatan never did.
The reason wasn't that Pakatan didn't have the right people to fill the positions. The reason is that any shadow cabinet they unveiled would have been criticized to death by BN and used as scaremongering propaganda by BN.
Imagine if Lim Guan Eng had been named as finance minister in the Pakatan shadow cabinet. You can see UMNO going to town with that one. But imagine if they had named only Malays for key posts. MCA, MIC and Gerakan could then say: "You claim to be a meritocracy but you fill all the top positions with Malays".
So whatever they do, they will be criticized. If they put a non-Malay in a top post, they will be vilified by UMNO. If they fail to put a non-Malay in a top post, they will be vilified by MCA/MIC/Gerakan. So they decided not to name a shadow cabinet.
KJ won't have that luxury should he be elected UMNO president because he has committed to doing so. But he will face the same issues Pakatan faced when it was in the opposition.
Let's take the case of finance minister again. If he names a Malay, people will say: "More of the same... UMNO cannot see beyond race." If he names a non-Malay, people will say: "You see, he is copying Pakatan". Either way he gets whacked.
Welcome to the opposition, KJ!
The reason wasn't that Pakatan didn't have the right people to fill the positions. The reason is that any shadow cabinet they unveiled would have been criticized to death by BN and used as scaremongering propaganda by BN.
Imagine if Lim Guan Eng had been named as finance minister in the Pakatan shadow cabinet. You can see UMNO going to town with that one. But imagine if they had named only Malays for key posts. MCA, MIC and Gerakan could then say: "You claim to be a meritocracy but you fill all the top positions with Malays".
So whatever they do, they will be criticized. If they put a non-Malay in a top post, they will be vilified by UMNO. If they fail to put a non-Malay in a top post, they will be vilified by MCA/MIC/Gerakan. So they decided not to name a shadow cabinet.
KJ won't have that luxury should he be elected UMNO president because he has committed to doing so. But he will face the same issues Pakatan faced when it was in the opposition.
Let's take the case of finance minister again. If he names a Malay, people will say: "More of the same... UMNO cannot see beyond race." If he names a non-Malay, people will say: "You see, he is copying Pakatan". Either way he gets whacked.
Welcome to the opposition, KJ!
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