Let me answer the first two questions in the title to this post now.
No, I did not mislead you, and we were not delusional in believing we could take out UMNO / BN at the 13th GE.
On 14th February, 2012, in my “Strategising ABU” post, I wrote :
“Immediately after the 12th GE, the divide was 140 seats to BN, and 82 to opposition…We’ve done our homework, and identified the vulnerable BN seats that can be taken and the vulnerable opposition seats that need to be defended. In Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak. For obvious reasons, I’m not going to detail those seats I’ve just mentioned. Suffice to say that, if we can prise those vulnerable seats away from BN, and successfully defend the existing opposition seats, we should take Putrajaya with a total of 141 seats”.
Almost a year later, on 11th January, 2013, in my “Dear non-BN leaders, here’s my wish list on behalf of the rakyat” post, I presented a revised figure of the parliamentary seats we might be able to capture if we got everything right.
“Based on information from our ground operators, it is well within our reach to displace UMNO / BN from Putrajaya, with non-BN parties winning 121 parliamentary seats, leaving UMNO /BN with only 101” .
To refresh your memory, in April, 2011, I was banned from entering Sarawak. 8 months later, in December, 2011, I landed in Kota Kinabalu but was refused entry into the state.
I was, thereafter, and until I could put in place paid operatives in both Sabah and Sarawak to obtain accurate information, beholden to local opposition party leaders for information as to what was happening on the ground.
By March, 2012, intelligence operatives, on behalf of ABU, were in place both in Sabah and Sarawak.
And we had also obtained the services of a market research outfit to enable ABU to formulate a strategic plan.
In August, 2012, in my “Manchester’s Plan B is, at best, a no brainer, and, at worst, is proof of…” post, I wrote :
“The last few months, with a view to formulate our phase 2 plans, ABU has been undertaking a study on the ground to fully understand the sentiments. I will share with you what I can here. In Malaya ( what most of you call Semenanjung ), the support for BN and the opposition is split almost right down the middle. 50-50. What’s very clear is the Chinese vote is solidly behind the move for change. In Sarawak, BN still has a slight advantage. Sabah, though, is increasingly becoming the key to who will take Putrajaya post the 13th GE, with Jeffery’s STAR gaining ground daily with its Borneo Agenda, which is resonating with the people of Sabah…Recent reports, though, indicate that the Malay sentiment, both in the rural and urban areas, may be swinging back to UMNO, owing to the daily dose of lies and race/religion spin they get through Utusan and TV3 about the possible loss of Malay political dominance, about the danger of the ascendancy of DAP, and thereby the Chinese, if Pakatan comes to power, and this whole business of the hudud” .
By this time, our information was that if we got it right, we could take 121 parliamentary seats.
8 from Sarawak.
14 from Sabah.
99 from Malaya.
If we got it right.
Who would make up this ‘we’ that needed to get it all right if we were to remove BN from Putrajaya post the 13th GE?
In my “Strategising ABU” post, I wrote :
“Now, I want to clarify here that by ‘we’, I do not mean Pakatan Rakyat. I mean the 3 Pakatan parties, working cohesively with the many other non-BN parties in Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak. And us, the rakyat. Lets be very, very clear about this. Pakatan Rakyat cannot and will not be able to bring BN to its knees by itself. Its going to require the combined force of all these parties working towards 1 goal : ABU. And that will require them to bury party egos, adopt a give and take attitude and work it so that we offer only 1 candidate in every constituency” .
Let me say now that I truly believe that if all parties concerned had done their part, we had a real chance of displacing UMNO / BN from Putrajaya in the 13th GE.
Were we cheated by UMNO / BN?
Yes.
I wont say anymore on this now and I will await to see first what comes out of the People’s Tribunal that is scheduled to kick off next week.
Were we let down?
Yes.
By who and how?
Will share my thoughts on this in my next post.
The People's Parliament 
Baba
September 13, 2013
So good to see ABU up and running.
ctteo
September 13, 2013
TQ, Haris !!
Good to hear from you again.
I’m not trying to be a smart aleck but even as I prayed hard that your predictions prior to GE13 will come to pass, I did not have your optimism.
I will not try to outsmart you that I have already drawn up my conclusions as to who had let the rakyat down in GE13!!
Perhaps, you can give us the benefit of your wisdom as to whether such a golden opportunity will present itself again come GE14, bearing in mind stalwarts of the opposition like TGNA, Karpal and LKS may no longer be contesting!!
See-Ye Tan
September 13, 2013
Hey Haris….good to hear from you…hope you’ve had a good rest after all those running around prior to GE-13.
You have done such a commendable job in ushering up our enthusiasm & awareness……no way I feel you or ABU letting us down, the rakyat knows this will take time….we are talking about changing our mindset that has been around for more than 50 years!
I am sure in the last 12 months ABU has mobilsed many of our young generation to participate in our movement to change Malaysia for the better – for all Malaysians!
Dont worry ABU& you has sow the seeds….the rest will slowly but surely work its way into the population….and materialise into something good.
Bersabar adalah separuh iman…
Cheers!
Another Anak Bangsa Malaysia
September 13, 2013
Haris,
I, for one, did not think you were delusional.
Albeit, I was probably bouyed by the mood in my kampung where we did eventually kick out BN after 56 years at the state and federal level.
Seeing again the distribution of the predicted seats above, made me realise that you were quite conservative in predicting a PR win.
How did we lose GE13?
That’s easy with 20/20 hindsight – the hantus and the gerrymandering in the rural seats.
The huge logistical exercise in moving voters from East Malaysia to Semananjung suggest to me that these were new voters registered to selected seats – probably rural.
The precision of the operation shows sophisticated management of new voters, from getting them jobs, housing them, knowing where they are located, knowing where they should go, etc …
Anyway, I look forward to hearing your report on the People’s Tribunal.
bigjoe99
September 13, 2013
Is it delusional NOT TO WANT TO BE PERVERTED, TO AVOID DISASTER? the question is moot. Of course ABU is not delusional. its NEVER delusional because it MUST BE DONE for SANITY.
Did ABU really have a chance? Was cheating part of it? Yes but cheating was expected and even if there was cheating – Look at the numbers – clearly if the flank of PAS and partly PKR was not hit, it would have worked even if ABU exact plan would be off.
In no way ABU failed. It did not do spectacularly well, it got side-swiped and it clearly should have gotten more to work with.
Is fighting the Borg that is UMNO/BN EVER delusional? It just must be done
Ali Ghouse
September 13, 2013
The recent results shows only 2 areas you guys need to cover.
Rural areas and East Malaysia.
khairil
September 13, 2013
“It just must be done.”
Hear, hear!
Fix the gerrymandering, keep an eye on dirty tricks, forge more E Mal parties into the alliance, work doubly hard in rural areas in the Peninsula.
Can it be done?
It just must be done.
shakuntala
September 13, 2013
Think ABU was, sad to say the “new kid in town”, ABU arrived late on the scene…people were just getting to know ABU and through the dilly- dallying tactics of UMNO.BN in making the
announcement for GE13 there was a fall out of concentration on the part of everyone. We lost time on getting our act together. This and the over-confidence of the Rakyat that UMNO/BN would get a whacking kick out once and for all.
Everyone, ie everyone in town thought that we had got the right formula this time We even thought that we had already sacked Mama Kutty and in our minds eye we saw him making a clumsy exit, even towing one of his favourite horses with him,.
We were all cock-eyed optimists …..the only converts were the urbanites who saw truth in upsetting the status quo and ushering in a new era of Change. The rakyat in the rural areas were not yet convinced. It was such a treat to watch the ABU team and Haris spreading the message of CHANGE so earnestly and sincerely day in and day out, …..but time was just not enough and it is a uphill task to have to talk sense into someone in a rural setting who had been fed UMNO/BN shit from the time he or she was born
ABU actually won because, people got to know ABU and were just starting to feel secure and hopeful of a new future . ABU won because it was able to send that message of hope to the Rakyat that managed to hear ABU.s message.
We need to keep going with the knowledge that allegiance to ABU friend of the Rakyat is going to be the answer to our quest for democratic freedoms to fall into place and for CHANGE to set in
Baba
September 13, 2013
agreed that gerrymandering needs to be tackled BIG time.
rajraman666
September 13, 2013
Pas kill PSM in Kota Damansara.
PKR kill PSM in Semenyeh.
PKR kill Sabah outright by not listening to grassroots members of Sabah.
rajraman.The greedy former PAS MB in kedah almost kill himself because of power.Power of politician have no limits.They tasted the blood of cheap but expensive glory.
UMNO killing their citizen.
junnie
September 14, 2013
if every ABU party were loyal to their own party and were united it could have happened but even before the election some of them were fighting for seats so in my opinion until every ABU cooperate it will be a dream. sorry this is my personal view.
Voter Wan Abdullah
September 16, 2013
Lets get ready…Lets spread the word. BERSIH 4.0
I promised to be ready for BERSIH 4.0
What about U ???
ABU is also ready for BERSIH 4.0 & even BERSIH 4.EVER if thats what it takes to get rid of an EVIL regime.
wandererAUS
September 30, 2013
….until the day when these two parties, namely PKR and PAS learned to make sacrifices and be more accommodating, especially in the area of seats distribution, we only can then say, the Opposition Alliance of PKR, DAP and PAS are heading in the right direction. We lost easily more than 5 winnable seats in GE13th to BN…. result of the selfish action of these two nincompoop opposition parties PKR and PAS. ABU can work its head off to seek change in the political landscape of the nation but, a promising result will not be forth coming when the culprits of the opposition leadership could not see further than the tip of their nose! PKR and PAS lost ground in the recent held GE, it should be a wake up call for these two self-centered, selfish and arrogant parties.