Steven Sim, who is Bukit Mertajam MP, added that those who believed the two pacts were the same were either feigning ignorance or outright ignorant.
For one, he said, PH was a young coalition compared to BN, which traces its history to the pre-independence Alliance formed in 1952 when Umno and MCA collaborated to contest in the Kuala Lumpur municipal election.
“True, DAP which is the oldest party in PH is slightly more than half a century old, but the second oldest is PKR, barely 20 years old. The two other parties, Amanah and PPBM, just celebrated their second and first anniversaries respectively in 2017.
“Compare this to BN, where Umno celebrated its 71st year in 2017, MCA and MIC their 68th year, and Gerakan its 49th year.
“As a coalition, PH is barely a decade old, counting from the time of Pakatan Rakyat (PR),” he added, referring to the previous opposition pact which had comprised DAP, PKR and PAS.
The alliance broke after PAS cut ties with DAP in July 2015.
Sim said this was because the leadership in the remaining component parties had held to the coalition’s original goal of providing a more democratic and inclusive alternative to BN-Umno.
“As such, when one of its partners, ie PAS, wanted to go back to a more extreme form of politics, those who were committed to the principles of PR had to say no. And when that could not be accepted, the component parties split,” he said.
He added that PH had been formed immediately after as those who wanted an alternative coalition were more determined than ever to make it work.
“And there are more and more of such leaders, those who wanted to make it work, having learnt lessons from the days of Barisan Sosialis, Gagasan Rakyat, Barisan Alternatif and finally Pakatan Rakyat.
“Operating under the hegemony of the ruling party where dissent is discouraged if not punished, a young alternative coalition must be given the space and time to develop.”
Sim added that the bulk of power lies with the federal government, which controls the country’s resources.
“Control of resources by the federal government is clearly a reflection of control of power.”
Last year, he said, the Penang and Selangor governments had a budget of RM1.45 billion and RM3.45 billion respectively.
“Compare this to the federal government whose 2017 budget was RM260.8 billion. In other words, Penang had only 0.4% and Selangor 1.3% of the kind of resources the federal government had.
“To put the PH state government and BN federal government side by side as if comparing the same thing is really comparing apples to oranges. Both are fruits, but they are substantially different.
“Imagine comparing someone whose salary is RM30,000 a month to another who earns about RM120 a month (0.4% of RM30,000).
“Surely it doesn’t make sense to expect the one who has substantially less resources to match up to the one who has so much more.”
But despite having substantially less power and resources, he said, PH was radically different from BN in terms of human rights, government efficiency, legislation on freedom of information, gender equality, just treatment of minorities and greater environmental protection.
“Yes, more can and should be done. But to say that both sides are the same is to disregard the plain evidence at hand.”
To those who were planning to cast protest votes or abstain from voting, Sim said this was as good as contributing to BN’s hopes of winning.
“We are not maintaining the status quo,” he said, adding that any effort to topple BN in future elections would be a “gargantuan, if not outright impossible task”.
He repeated a quote from US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders who, during the 2017 election campaign, had said, “This is not the year for a protest vote.”
“We all know very well the consequence of young people not heeding Sanders’ good advice: President Donald Trump,” he said.