A good Opposition leader, like Kit Siang?

If Zahid Hamidi listens to Lim Kit Siang’s unsolicited advice on “How to be a good Opposition Leader”, I’m afraid it might take BN 50 years instead of five to take back Putrajaya. BN does not have such luxury. Kit Siang was lucky, he had all the time in the world. The DAP stalwart was Opposition leader for a record three times, spanning 30 years. Including a 24-year uninterrupted stretch from 1975 to 1999, which must have been some kind of a world record or something.  

Despite this long tenure, the Opposition made very little headway under Kit Siang. In fact, it became weak and it suffered many humiliations, especially during Mahathir Mohamad’s era (Prime Minister, 1981-2003). If Kit Siang had been a good Opposition leader, the voters would have kept him. Instead, at the 1999 polls, they showed him the door. Lim led the Opposition for the last time from 2004 to 2008 and had better luck in the 12th general election, but only because he and the Opposition had help from Dr Mahathir, who was going after Pak Lah, the Prime Minister then. 

If Kit Siang had been a good Opposition leader, we the people wouldn’t be paying through our noses for our highways today. And Mahathir would not get to create the IPPs for his cronies. And Penangites would still be taking the ferry to go to the mainland. Just to mention a few.  

No, Zahid will be better off creating his own brand as Opposition Leader. I hope he does not oppose just for the sake of opposing, which was what Kit Siang was all about. The Leader of the Opposition must provide check and balances, call a spade a spade, tamper the new Government’s over-eagerness with the realities on the ground. Put the people first, as Tony Fernandes would say, and everything would fall into place. 

#	Leader of the Opposition		Political party		Term of office		Prime Minister		Refs
					Took office	Left office
1		Burhanuddin al-Helmy (1911–1969) MP for Besut		PMIP	1959	1964		Tunku Abdul Rahman
2		Tan Chee Khoon (1919–1996) MP for Batu		SF(LPM)	1964	1969
-	Position vacant				1969	1971
								Abdul Razak Hussein
3		Mohamed Asri Muda (1923–1992) MP for Pasir Puteh		PMIP	1971	1973
4		Lim Kit Siang (b. 1941) MP for Bandar Malacca		DAP	30 January 1973	31 July 1974			[2]
5		James Wong (1922–2011) MP for Miri-Lubis		SNAP	1974	1974
6		Edmund Langgu Saga (b. 1936) MP for Saratok		SNAP	4 November 1974	4 November 1975			[3]
(4)		Lim Kit Siang (b. 1941) MP for Kota Melaka (1975-1978) MP for Petaling (1978–1982) MP for Kota Melaka (1982-1986) MP for Tanjong (1986–1999)		DAP	4 November 1975	12 June 1978			[4]
								Hussein Onn
					31 July 1978	29 March 1982			[5]
								Mahathir Mohamad
					10 July 1982	19 July 1986			[6]
					8 October 1986	4 October 1990			[7]
					10 December 1990	6 April 1995			[8]
					15 June 1995	10 November 1999			[9]
7		Fadzil Noor (1937–2002) MP for Pendang		PAS	20 December 1999	23 June 2002			[10]
8		Abdul Hadi Awang (b. 1947) MP for Marang		PAS	9 September 2002	4 March 2004			[11]
								Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
(4)		Lim Kit Siang (b. 1941) MP for Ipoh Timor		DAP	19 May 2004	13 February 2008			[12]
9		Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (b. 1952) MP for Permatang Pauh		PKR	30 April 2008	28 August 2008			[13][14]
10		Anwar Ibrahim (b. 1947) MP for Permatang Pauh		PKR	28 August 2008	3 April 2013			[15]
								Najib Razak
					26 June 2013	16 March 2015			[16][17]
(9)		Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (b. 1952) MP for Permatang Pauh		PH(PKR)	18 May 2015	10 May 2018			[18]
11		Najib Razak (b. 1953) MP for Pekan & Former Prime Minister of Malaysia		BN(UMNO)	10 May 2018	12 May 2018		Mahathir Mohamad	[19]
12		Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (b. 1953) MP for Bagan Datuk & Former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia		BN(UMNO)	12 May 2018	Incumbent