The Leap Into the Great Unknown

If you're one of the diminishing band of people planning to vote Pakatan Rakyat here's an important question for you: How confident do you feel?
Do you feel confident that a Pakatan Government can assemble a cabinet of the best talent available or will it be a compromise cabinet aimed at appeasing the disgruntled parties? Given this is the formula that is already being used to fire-fight nomination disputes (such as Lim Kit Siang's cameo in Gelang Patah), the omens aren't good.
Do you also feel confident that your newly chosen Government can implement its manifesto as a workable blueprint for prosperity? On that count there has already been significant backtracking (Lynas, road tolls) and experts are already asking who will foot the bill for this big-spending wish list.
And perhaps most importantly in terms of who will have the greatest say over Malaysia's future success; do you feel confident you know who will end up occupying Seri Perdana? Because not even Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim knows. He, more than anyone, is aware that if PAS makes all the big gains in a Pakatan victory, it will have its own ideas about the premiership that involves its President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.
Yes, there are a lot of "ifs" in these scenarios, but that's what Pakatan Rakyat brings to the table; unanswerable questions and a lot of "ifs".
The lesson is straightforward: change is great if you know what you are getting or are wildly excited about a leap into the unknown. The latter sounds all very good except this isn't some adventure sport; this is the future of the nation. There is a lot at stake for us and even more at stake for our children.
Pakatan has used the nomination process to quell dissent and has plonked ethnic candidates into unwinnable seats in an effort to fool voters into thinking DAP and PAS in particular have embraced diversity.
For example, PAS' non-Muslim candidate in Ayer Hitam, Hu Pang Chow, has a mountain to climb in a seat won by MCA at GE12 by 14,000 votes. It's a total farce and tells us nothing about how serious they are about Government.
But perhaps we are being a bit unfair on Pakatan. Its candidates won't be unknown quantities if they are six term veterans aged in their 70s. Pakatan's sad procession of aging party stalwarts should not give us comfort in their longevity; rather they remind us that familiarity breeds contempt.
Between all the issues Pakatan Rakyat has failed to resolve, and the aging candidates who are past their prime the message is clear: A vote for change is indeed a leap into the unknown.