MARCH 11 ― Seeing the group of politicians and activists come together assuming what Amy Cuddy calls “the starfish position” was a sombre moment for me.

I would never have expected to see Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad with Lim Kit Siang. Not after their long, acrimonious history together spanning over 40 years. But I guess it had to come to this. We are now in a precariously desperate position. So desperate that the Save Malaysia coalition even included Anwar Ibrahim and Hishamuddin Rais as well!

Can the Save Malaysia coalition have the desired effect? I do believe that it can albeit with a big “if.” It can succeed if it can overcome the clash of egos which is fixing itself to sabotage it from within. On Monday, the headlines already suggested that Tun Dr Mahathir’s declaration is a tacit admission that Anwar Ibrahim was victimised by the system.

While justice for Anwar (as well as anyone and everyone in Malaysia) is important, is this really the right time to revisit this issue? Perhaps saving the nation should take precedent. There will be many such gripes and much cynicism to overcome but the rewards for spurring this coalition to success will be worth it.

How can we ensure that the Save Malaysia coalition will not end up like every other attempt to reform the government? I feel the following steps may give it some semblance of cogency to that end:

1. Thinking long term: The Save Malaysia coalition must aim for a long term victory, GE14. Only two years of calculated campaigning can lay the foundation of a true election success. The entire game needs to be changed.

2. Forming the right kind of coalition: This is an important first step once the long term goal has been set. Most of the members of this coalition and its signatories are already established within political parties. As such, forming a new party will not be ideologically easy. It may be important for the Umno or BN exiles to have their own new parties but apart from that, no new party should be formed. Rather form a loosely based coalition based on general principles. This was the failure of the late Pakatan Rakyat with the dishonest and intellectually bankrupt PAS in its ranks.

3. Reject racial and religious politics: Our Achilles heel, the old agama and bangsa component from the Umno credo of agama, bangsa dan negara has got to be kept well clear of this coalition. These two elements have characterised Umno politics for decades and have created a niche for corruption, nepotism and cronyism which are the very things this coalition is against. Not only that, if PAS members feel they wish to join the coalition (unlikely at present, given the sycophantic politics of Hadi Awang and Haron Din), they must also shelve any kind of religious politics. The focus should instead be a democratic Malaysia.

4. Target the propagation campaign in the Umno heartlands: No amount of gerrymandering in the world can help if the Umno heartlands are conquered. As it happens, Umno has only almost half of the popular votes. Losing 10 per cent of that would effectively mean the end of the BN government. The Save Malaysia coalition has a real chance of realising that loss once and for all. Why? Because for the first time, we have former Umno stalwarts who can expose the party's own transgressions. Imagine the Malay heartlands listening to the cold, brutal facts of 1MDB from Tun Dr Mahathir himself. I can easily foresee a strong tidal wave of change.

5. Have long-term economic goals: One thing obvious about the current BN government is its rather indecisive nature. Flip-flop is the more common term. The answers given when it was revealed the PM had RM2.6 billion in his personal account is a clear example of this. The Save Malaysia coalition must be the absolute opposite of this to gain public confidence. Have a clear set of goals. Show the rakyat what would happen once the BN government is removed. Clear cut diagrams showing our recovery and how the rakyat would benefit. These are all crucial for them to see that the coalition is not simply presenting old wine in new bottles.

It is sad that the nation had to come to this before realising that change is necessary. But better late than never. Preparations for GE14 need to begin now itself. With around two years to go and the Save Malaysia coalition on the right track, we have a chance of making long, lasting change.

*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.