There seems to be great difficulty and apprehension for the opposition parties to unite or even sit together.

This is because there seems to be a stupid impression that PKR is still a strong party.

There is also the naive impression that Shafie Apdal can rewrite a new narrative without the support of the big boys in the opposition.

Mahathir has lost the trust of most people and so if he calls for a meeting, no one will entertain him for fear of backstabbing.

Without sitting together, the opposition will definitely lose and the rakyat will not come out to vote.

Therefore, I, as a citizen of Malaysia, call upon all political parties mentioned in my table to meet up together and thrash out my input regarding GE15 and the fate of Malaysia.

It is time to call the opposition to march to the banner of the Jaringan Harapan Rakyat.

The following table present my suggested distribution of seats from the perspective of political amicability:

In my suggested distribution, PKR is given 38 seats, the largest of all political parties. This is due to it being led by Anwar Ibrahim that sparked the Reformasi Movement and toppled Barisan Nasional.

Secondly, PKR is chosen to lead with Rafizi Ramli in the charge supported by the veterans like Saifuddin Nasution, Johari, Syed Ibrahim and others.

Without Rafizi, I do not think PKR can even win five seats.

PKR is tasked with providing the vision for Malaysia in its economy, environment and security in old age.

Warisan, I suggest, is given the second largest seats and with UPKO having 22, the message is that these two must conquer Sabah and Sarawak before they can even step foot in Peninsular in GE16.

Warisan and UPKO must convince Sabahans and Sarawakians that if they can take all 56 seats or win the largest seats in the Jaringan Harapan Rakyat, then the PM-ship and a third of the cabinet will belong to those two nations.

It is up to the two parties to redistribute their allocated seats with other partners in Sarawak and Sabah.

The DAP may get a few seats or give way to the full force of local parties. This is a new game.

Amanah and Pejuang have both 44 seats to send the signal that the largest seat allocation is for the Malays.

It is important for the Malay electorate to not fall for the DAP ghost narrative of the PN and the BN.

This is the last chance for Amanah and the only chance for Pejuang to show their strengths without depending too much on other parties like the DAP or PKR.

Do or die, there is no try!

There is a need for the opposition coalition to launch the attack and change the game plan or upset the chess board that has been dictated all this while by Zahid and Co.

MUDA is entrusted with 22 parliamentary seats. MUDA is given an equal number of seats with Pejuang, Amanah and UPKO to show that the party is given faith by the elders in the older parties to make a difference in Malaysia.

MUDA must put out its training program for the Undi18 to bring them out in full force. Failing that, the battle for Malaysia will be lost to conservatism and handouts of motorcycle fuels.

MUDA must give a clear and helpful vision of succeeding the good life in employment, study, housing and education.

The young MUDA must run the gauntlet of fire and survive or die trying.

The Malaysian Advancement Party must work hard with PSM to show that hard-working Malaysians will be rewarded with many perks and incentives and be assured of employment in the new era of 5G and IR 4.0.

The Gerak Independents candidate will serve as the conscience of the Jaringan Harapan Rakyat and also as a check and balance for the coalition if it takes Putrajaya in GE15.

The GI candidates must get help from PKR and DAP as seasoned parties.

The poster faces of Anwar, Rafizi, Shafie, Syed Sadiq and Mukhriz Mahathir can be used to rally the rakyat.

BN and Umno now has the upper hand and dictates the tune for others to dance. This will never do for the rakyat.

There is a need for the opposition coalition to launch the attack and change the game plan or upset the chess board that has been dictated all this while by Zahid and Co.

If the opposition parties are still stuck in their ‘bodoh sombong’ mode, then the rakyat must come in to insert a new play.

The above suggestion for the distribution of seats is the new play where the rakyat dictates and the opposition must try to follow, or else the rakyat will defer their votes.

The point of this effort is to avoid any issue of bruised ego on any political personality in calling for a meeting and risk having snubbed by one party.

In this manner, any party who snubs the rakyat is the party that Malaysians will NOT vote for in GE15.

The distribution table is just a new game starter. We the rakyat just want you the opposition parties to meet and thrash out the strategy together.

You can throw out the table if you want but at least meet and argue.

You have to start somewhere. Within one month from this date, if there is no meeting of the opposition parties to reset the election game scenario, BN will trounce all of you and the rakyat will be the biggest losers.

So, get off your butts and meet! Discuss. Argue. Suggest. But meet first-lah!

If not, there is a serious possibility of Perikatan Nasional pulling in Warisan, UPKO, Pejuang and MUDA into a very viable Third Force.

If that happens, it would be goodbye and sayonara for Pakatan Harapan that thinks it will secure the same number of seats as in GE14. Don’t hope-lah!

If there is the Battle of the Three Armies of PH, PN and BN, it will either result in a BN landslide victory and Zahid as PM, or it would be a hung parliament with the three armies having equal strength.

And so, the politicking goes on while the rakyat bear the brunt of it all.

This is a new chess game and the landscape is still ocean blue.

We the rakyat have made the first move and now we wait if the parties that we hope to govern Malaysia are thinking selfishly of themselves or of the people.

Your move now, guys!

(Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at a local university and his writing reflects his own personal opinion entirely.)