The battle for GE14 begins today

The 14th general election (GE14) must be held on or before August 24, 2018 and Parliament will be automatically dissolved on June 24, 2018. That is approximately two and a half years away from now.

Given the current political and economic uncertainties in the country, it is very unlikely that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will call for an early election, thus a date two years from now is more than likely.

The polling date for GE14 promises to be a date with destiny for Malaysians as we cast our votes to decide the future of this country. There can be little doubt that GE14 is the defining election.

Do we continue on the downward trajectory of blatant corruption and misrule or do we say enough is enough and vote for a new beginning under a new political coalition?

Make no mistake about it, Barisan Nasional (BN) is still the odds-on favourite to win GE14 despite suffering heavy blows following the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the RM2.6 billion scandals. It has absolute control of state machineries and lots of money to dish out, something that the opposition coalition of Pakatan Harapan (Harapan) has very little of.

To stand a chance of winning GE14, Harapan must start their campaigning with earnest today or risk being complicit in sending Malaysia on the road to failed nationhood.

Apart from party or coalition-level positioning through issuing of statements on national issues, Harapan must activate all their election machinery up to the state constituency-level.

The tradition of not naming the candidates until after the Parliament is dissolved should be reconsidered so that candidates can start their groundwork work early and for voters to evaluate them by their performance.

It would be foolhardy to think that all voters only make their choice based on national issues or on the party of a candidate. Many do vote based on the personal profile and performance of the local candidate.

The desire to keep their opponent guessing or to avoid internal party strife may not be the best strategy.

Parachuting in candidates into a constituency where that person is a total unknown is putting yourself at a disadvantage from the start. Wouldn't it be better that would-be candidates are tested or tempted early and the intra-party politicking be resolved mid-term than just a month before polling day?

If named candidates do not live up to expectations and show themselves to be too lazy to service the constituents, they can always be dropped in the final list. This would ensure that those who aspire to be Wakil Rakyat (People's Representatives) would be kept on their toes to work hard to win the hearts and minds of voters.

So, what groundwork should a would-be candidate or even incumbent elected representative do in the build-up to polling day?

Incumbents, especially those from the ruling coalition, have an advantage that challengers usually don't – they are known. Unknown would-be candidates have to make themselves known to local voters so that by GE14, they are a familiar face and hopefully have made positive impressions along the way.

Apart from hanging up colourful greeting banners with their photos during festive seasons, they should go to the ground to hear the grouses of their constituents, take up local issues with the authorities, engage local press and fully utilise social media to their advantage. They should also write commentaries and speak to constituents regularly so that their views are known.

They can organise political talks, voter education workshops, financial planning seminars, connecting the needy to available resources, provide voter registration/verification services, organise community events and many more. They must be seen as working for the good of the community.

But early campaigning must not run foul of the Election Offences Act that forbids a political party to campaign until after Nomination Day. Party flags, leaflets or any kind of inducement for people to support them would be deemed an offence and should be avoided. Inducement is an offence but doing good works is not.

In working the ground, would-be candidates should start pre-election "get-out-the-votes" (GOTV) activities like doing local surveys to get to know their constituents and for them to be known. Teams of local volunteers should be recruited for such tasks and they would form the backbone of volunteers for a variety of election period campaigning and monitoring tasks.

It is not good enough for Harapan to rely on the failure of BN or the anger of the people against BN to win GE14. They must prove their worthiness to rule from the grassroots level by selecting servant leaders as candidates who are people of high integrity and capability.

As the English idiom goes, "The early bird catches the worm", the opportunity to win GE14 awaits those who are willing to work hard – today! – February 15, 2016.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer, organisation or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.