Speech by M Kulasegaran , DAP National Vice Chairman and MP for Ipoh Barat on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 in Klang

PR can do it if we can reach out to Malaysians to convince, inspire and prove to them that we are the hope for a better Malaysia for all Malaysians.

Two days ago, prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak dismissed reports of a Cabinet reshuffle in anticipation of snap polls early next year.

"Reports are reports.

Rumours are rumors. Cabinet changes are rumors. Elections are also rumors. They are just rumors," he said.

There has been strong speculation that snap polls will be held in March or April next year.

I believe that Najib has not made up his mind whether to call snap polls as speculated, but this is certainly an option which he is thinking about.

If BN does well in the Sarawak state election expected to be held soon, then Najib will certainly go ahead with snap polls plan.

In an interview with Bloomberg a few days ago, former Prime Minister Dr
Mahathir said BN was capable of wresting one or two states from PR in the 13th general election because, he said, the opposition was in disarray.

However, he added that BN would likely fail to regain its two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Many people believe that the two PR state governments which BN is confident about wresting are Selangor and Kedah.

Let me say that PR will go all out to ensure that not only we will be able to retain all present PR held state governments, we will also recapture Perak state power.

And for the federal level, our objective is not to again deny BN its two thirds parliamentary majority in Parliament, but to make Najib the new parliamentary opposition leader.

I must admit that these are not easy tasks for PR. In fact, they are very very tough as BN will employ all kinds of tactics to stop us from reaching our goals

But I believe that PR can do it if we can reach out to Malaysians to convince, inspire and prove to them that we are the hope for a better Malaysia for all Malaysians.

There is no doubt that a big challenge that PR is facing is that BN is gaining political momentum as evidenced by its victories in the recent Galas and Batu Sapi by elections.

All is not lost as the opposition lost Ijok by election in April 2007 but captured Selangor state government less than a year later in the subsequent 2008 general election.

We can make Galas and Batu Sapi our Ijok—temporary loss. And we can create the political tsunami again if we quickly regain the political momentum and the people’s confidence and support.

PR must therefore take stock of the recent by election defeats. New strategies and approaches to reach the people will have to be thought out.

The PR state governments will have to do more to prove to the voters that they have made the right decisions in voting for PR in the 2008 general election.

Let PR continue to be the people’s choice and hope.

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