So much is being said out there about the goods, the bads and the rubbish of Pakatan Rakyat. And Anwar Ibrahim. I don't think I'll need to give a recap on these; as it is I myself am quite mual already.

Where has Anwar been? I bet you that a whole lot of people out there are suspecting that he has sold out the rakyat with UMNO holding him by the balls because of his Sodomy II charges. Can you really blame those who think so. After all, where is Anwar? Since 8 March 2008, he has been talking cock, lost a state, bumbled in Sabah and Sarawak, got himself and PKR (along with PR) into a whole lot of mess and nothing much positive for the rakyat.

Is he really that busy with his case? Or is he so guilty that he has to please UMNO by destructing Pakatan Rakyat?

Whatever it is, it is time for Pakatan Rakyat to get organised. I can't stand disorganisation. There has to be a proper structure for anything and everything to work.

I like things done the corporate way. Take a leaf from Thaksin. He has his issues but you cannot deny that he is one of the best thing that ever happened to Thailand. He ran the country the way he ran his businesses - brilliant!

As such, I believe that PR should be run in the same manner. There should always be a clear leader and I've mentioned this before. But maybe this person should not be Anwar. Yes, remove Anwar as the 'Managing Director' of Pakatan Rakyat. This is my proposed structure:



















MANAGING DIRECTOR

The MD should be a person who is NOT a member of any of the 3 of DAP, PAS and PKR. By doing this, the MD will be impartial when it comes to decision making. All decisions affecting PR must be approved and endorsed by the Board (MD + 3 directors). A simple majority suffices. Collective decision is the way to go.

The MD should also be well remunerated from a pooled fund (will come to this later). RM100,000 per month comes to mind. It is a decent amount to live a comfortable life. This amount must be such so as to prevent any 'paid favouritism' - you know what I mean. RM1.2 million per annum may not be a large sum considering what the corrupted government officials can make, but it sure puts off some risk taking (of being caught) as this RM1.2 million is a risk free high paying income. (Singapore is adopting this strategy and I think it is very smart of them).

Who are the candidates? I would like to think that Tengku Razaleigh fits the bill. But that's doubtful. What about Raja Petra? He seems like a good candidate. And potentially Zaid Ibrahim - if and only if he leaves PKR.

And who decides who gets the MD job? That's a tough one. Maybe the 3 parties get to choose by way of vote. Or maybe all registered members of the 3 parties get to vote.


OTHER DIRECTORS

Each component party is given 1 board seat. Regardless of party size or number of state seats or parliament seats held. Why? Because you campaign as PR during the elections and you won the seat because of PR and not because you are DAP, PAS or PKR.

The board member cannot be the leader of the individual party. If you are the head of your party then your job is busy enough. Look at what we have now with Anwar. He is so busy with his case, with 'leading' PR etc. that he has no time for PKR. Anwar should stay focus and look after his upside-down PKR before he attempts to tell DAP and PAS what to do. Isn't that right?

So, 1 seat allocated to each party, and the party representative should be a person with certain level of power within his own party. Say, someone like Karpal Singh of DAP, Wan Azizah of PKR, and Tok Guru of PAS.


Should PR get to form government, should the MD be made PM? Maybe. Maybe not. The candidate could be one of the directors, or he/she could be one of the party heads. But the PM must be decided by PR as part of its election campaign. Voters must know who is the candidate running to lead the country. Let us know beforehand who you have in mind. This must be decided by the MD and the 3 directors so as to prevent unexpected 'problems' on 'unexpected' wins - like GE12. And see, its collective agreement.


DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE

An independent disciplinary committee should be set up to monitor the activities and misbehaviour of all members within PR. Yes, the net is cast wide. This DC is something like the internal audit department. Not very well liked but keeps everyone on their toes. And the members of this DC should not be members of any of the component parties.

The DC has no power to prosecute. And reports directly to the MD. Not the Board because the Board has the 3 party reps. The MD will then decide on if actions should be 'forced' upon the directors to 'clean their house'. This will trap the likes of Hasan Ali and Zulkifli Nordin.

Members of the DC are paid by a pooled fund.


SUPPORTING DEPARTMENTS

Some of the supporting departments that can be created are:

1. Accounts - Ensure that all centralised funds are well managed. The accounts must be audited and made available to the public.

2. Branding and Image - PR is suffering badly from this department because PR is still darn old school. Wake up. This is 2009. Everything is about perception - politics especially. I actually think that Najib is very smart in hiring the professionals for his own branding and image. I still don't like him though. But you cannot deny that this team is doing a good job in making him look good. People actually get convinced by good publicity. The Americans are just darn good at this. And we know Obama spent a fortune on publicity to win his Presidency seat.

3. Strategy & Planning - Enough of listening to Anwar. He is good but he is not Mr. Know All. PR needs a team to cater for PR. Component parties can have their own team but that is for their own purposes. PR as a unit must have its own strategies and plans. Time to rope in the professionals. Time for change. The thing with DAP and PAS is they are still old school. Tweeting doesn't mean that you have moved forward. Having a political blog doesn't make you a changed politician. The mindset must change. How things are done must change. The thought process must change. Did I mention that PKR has to move on from its UMNO style of doing things?


Now how are we going to finance this centralised management team?


POOLED FUND

Each component party must dedicate an amount to the PR central management team for running expenses. What is a good gauge? That depends. We could go based on say RM1 or RM2 per party membership headcount. There may be an issue of party x complaining of paying more due to their broader membership base etc. But PR will just have to learn to live as ONE. Else, what's the difference between PR and BN?

Remember, PR knows no religion or race. So, nothing should be apportioned based on such criterias like what BN is adopting. Leave the BN mentality please.

Fundraising can also be carried under the PR banner. All 3 component parties are allowed to keep all fund raised for own use when raising fund under own banner. But when the banner of PR is used, say 50% of all fund raised must be contributed to the central committee.


So, there you have a very simplified structure for brainstorming. Of course there is room for improvement. This is something I thought off while taking a shower! But it is a start.

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