Tag: Pakatan Rakyat

Implications Of The Pakatan Rakyat Split

Malaysia’s three-party opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has split up over a series of policy disputes, including calls for the implementation of the Islamic penal code, or hudud, in Kelantan.

The Democratic Action Party (DAP) announced on Tuesday (June 16) that the alliance was dead, blaming it on Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS). But more significantly, the collapse left the third component party – Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) – in a potentially dire situation.

Here’s what you should know about the break up of PR and what may happen next:

What is Pakatan Rakyat?

The opposition bloc was formed in April 2008, uniting opposition parties that had long been pushed around by the governing Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN). Experts said PR was always a fragile alliance, given that it brought together bedfellows who were opposed ideologically, particularly the Islamist PAS and the secular DAP.

The bloc won 52 per cent of the popular vote in the 2013 elections, tapping into growing resentment of Umno’s rule and corruption scandals. It failed to take power due to Umno gerrymandering, but its stunning performance under leader Anwar Ibrahim – jailed earlier this year on sodomy charges widely seen as trumped up by the government – had raised the possibility of a historic change of power in Malaysia.

The PR currently controls three states: Kelantan (PAS-led), Penang (DAP-led) and Selangor (PKR-led). The DAP holds 37 of 222 seats in Malaysia’s parliament, the PKR 29, and PAS 21.

What happened?

When PAS saw its share of seats shrink in the 2013 election, it started to reassert its Islamic agenda and push for hudud in Kelantan state. Its president Abdul Hadi Awang was criticised for pushing a bill on hudud without consulting his opposition partners. This led to the DAP announcing in March that it would no longer work with the PAS leader.

The rift worsened this month after the PAS leadership was captured by conservatives and the party accepted a motion by its conservative ulama (clerics) wing to sever ties with the DAP.

In response, DAP’s Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said in a statement on Tuesday (June 16) that the PR no longer exist. Mr Lim, who is also Penang’s Chief Minister, said it was the PAS president’s unilateral decision to push for hudud and his party’s decision to sever ties with DAP that led to the PR’s collapse. He added that the DAP would continue to work with PKR and other parties that want to end BN’s rule “to reshape and realign Malaysian politics with the aim of winning Putrajaya for the people”.

Dismissing the DAP’s statement, PAS Youth chief Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz said the opposition alliance was still intact. “DAP’s decision will not dissolve the coalition,” he stressed.

PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said on Wednesday (June 17) that PKR will not cut its ties with the DAP and PAS, blaming neither but chiding both for precipitating a crisis. “PR no longer functions formally,” she said in a statement, emphasising that PKR would continue to support the DAP-led Penang state government and the PAS-led Kelantan state government.

What are the implications?

Analysts are divided over how Umno and the ruling BN, as well as Prime Minister Najib Razak could benefit from the break up of the PR.

“Opposition in disarray is certainly helpful for Najib’s survival. He is now actively courting Sabah and Sarawak for support even within Umno and BN. As long as he can convince the party he can still deliver, the party members will stick with him. Corruption is not a cardinal sin for Umno leaders. Mahathir had his own shares of financial scandals but he ruled for 23 years. Najib, and certainly Rosmah, see no reason why they can’t learn from Mahathir,” said Penang Institute fellow Wong Chin Huat, referring to former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and wife of Mr Najib, Rosmah Mansor.

But analyst Tan Seng Keat from the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research said the impact is difficult to predict. Umno and its coalition are racked by infighting of their own, as concerns over the economy and damaging financial scandals have further raised the possibility of defeat in the next polls, due by 2018.

On the opposition side, the DAP has asked PAS representatives to resign from their posts in the Penang state government and its agencies. PAS does not hold any influence in the state assembly as it has only one lawmaker while DAP dominates the 40-seat state legislature with 29 assemblymen.

PAS, on the other hand, controls the Kelantan state assembly with 32 out of 45 seats. DAP has no representatives while PKR has only one.

PKR, however, could find itself in potentially dire straits. It cannot sustain a majority in the 57-seat Selangor state assembly without the support of both PAS and DAP. The party had wanted to mediate between the two feuding partners but DAP turned down its offer.

PAS strategist Zuhdi Marzuki has called for the formation of a new political pact involving only Malay-Muslim parties, similar to one that PAS joined and was led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in the 1990s. It was disbanded after Tengku Razaleigh rejoined Umno in 1996.

“Now it is up to PKR which leads Selangor to decide whether it wants to continue with a coalition with PAS in PR or not,” Dr Zuhdi said. “If PKR also withdraws from PR, then it is not impossible that the Selangor state government will become shaky.”

What could happen next?

The opposition parties and even the ruling BN may seek new realignments, including:

A new opposition pact

Analaysts believe the DAP and PKR will try to link up with a new partner to form a new opposition pact before the next general election because this remains their only realistic path to defeating BN. Along with PAS, PR has 87 seats in Parliament against BN’s 134. A possible partner is a new party mooted by PasMa, a PAS splinter group formed last year. Following the conservative sweep in PAS’ party elections earlier this month and the collapse of PR, PasMa said it was in discussion with several leaders and parties to set up a new moderate Islamic party that could cooperate with both PKR and DAP.

“It is back to square one until they find a replacement vehicle for PAS. May or may not be PasMa. PR needs a party for Islamists and rural areas, something PKR is not good at,” said Professor James Chin, director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania.

PAS and Umno coalition

The possibility of a unity government of PAS and Umno – the key, Malay-based party in BN – has been talked about since before the 2013 General Election. With the conservatives now dominating PAS, it is increasingly likely that the two parties may be tempted to work together.

However, it is unclear if Umno is willing to risk breaking up its own multiracial coalition to embrace the Islamist PAS. Although Umno supported the PAS-run Kelantan government’s plans to adopt hudud in March this year, Mr Najib has yet to make his stand on hudud.

“It is most unlikely that Umno will accept PAS in a Malay/Muslim-only unity government as this will mean the effective breakup of the Barisan as a multiracial, multi-religious coalition,” said Centre for Policy Initiatives director Lim Teck Ghee.

However, Mr Wong, the Penang Institute fellow, said Umno might compromise, allowing PAS safe seats in Kelantan and Terengganu in the next general election.

“What will likely happen is a covert pact between the two, with PAS attacking DAP, PKR and the PAS pragmatists if they leave the party.

“Since it is in the interest of Umno to keep PAS floating, Umno will not put up a full fight in some seats in Kelantan and Terengganu so that PAS will survive with 10 seats or so. A complete collapse of hardliners within PAS will drive the Islamist voters to the splinter party, PKR or even DAP.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

June 20, 2015
PKR Believes Pakatan Will Rise From The Ashes While PAS And DAP Think Otherwise

Just like a phoenix, Pakatan Rakyat will rise from the ashes, said a PKR leader in response to DAP’s declaration that the coalition is dead.

PKR’s strategic director Sim Tze Tzin said the coalition will be having a meeting either tonight or tomorrow to look for a solution to the problems they’ve been having.

“We saw it coming but Pakatan will rise again.”

However, DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago said that there is no recovering from the move taken by PAS, which during its Muktamar earlier this month had approved for a motion to cut ties with the secular based party to be discussed by its central committee and Syura Council.

“This is best move for us as PAS has made its decision so there is no point in us lingering around.

“PAS left us with no choice but to declare Pakatan Rakyat dead.”

PAS’ former central working committee member Khalid Samad said the next step for the pact, if there was to be one, is to come up with a new name.

This is because “Pakatan Rakyat” is a coalition consisting of three component parties and should any party leave, the pact cannot go on the same way it always has.

“Without either one of the component parties, there is no Pakatan Rakyat. So the next step has to be decided by the leadership.

“Will we form a new coalition comprising of only two parties or will we go our separate ways and be individual parties the way we were before.

“But either way, Pakatan Rakyat is dead,” he said to The Rakyat Post.

DAP leaders, party supremo Lim Kit Siang and secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, have said that Pakatan Rakyat is dead and done with, blaming PAS as having killed the opposition coalition.

Source: www.therakyatpost.com

June 17, 2015
Khalid Samad Criticises PAS’ U-Turn On Coalition

Former PAS central committee member Khalid Samad criticised the U-turn by the party’s highest leadership following the passing of a motion to cut ties with its Pakatan Rakyat coalition partner DAP at its recently concluded muktamar.

The Shah Alam MP questioned the logic for the motion slated to go before the Syura Council and the central committee for decision-making.

He said both bodies attended the recently concluded PAS muktamar and did not object when the motion was passed without debate.

“Wasn’t the Syura Council ulama at the meeting? Weren’t the central committee members there?

“If they approved it in the meeting, don’t tell me now they want to reject the motion outside the muktamar.

“If the muktamar approved it, that means the Syura Council also approved it, the central committee approved it, Dewan Ulama approved it, Dewan Muslimat and Dewan Pemuda approved it.

“So all the delegates from across the country have already approved it.

“What else is there to say? Don’t tell me the leadership does not understand the muktamar process,” he said at a dinner event in Muar, Johor, yesterday.

Khalid added that DAP, in accepting the decision and announcing the end of Pakatan Rakyat, showed that the party understood the workings of PAS better than the Islamist party.

“Even DAP understands better, they said already disbanded, there is nothing else there,” Khalid added.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng yesterday announced that PR ceased to exist, adding that it would only work with PKR and “other forces” to end Barisan Nasional’s hold on the federal government.

PKR is expected to announce its stand today following a party leadership meeting last night.

Source: www.themalaysianinsider.com

June 17, 2015
Dr Mahathir: Malaysia Could Become Singapore if Chinese Community Continues to Support DAP

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed warned today that Malaysia could become like Singapore if the Chinese community here continues to support DAP’s alleged dream of complete political and economic dominance in Malaysia.

The former prime minister claimed that nothing good will come of Chinese dominance in politics or the economy — as has happened in neighbouring Singapore — as Malaysia is a multi-cultural society mostly made up of the Malays.

“In the 13th General Election, the DAP dangled before the eyes of the Chinese that this time (kali ini) they can grab both political and economic dominance,” he said in his latest posting on his blog, chedet.cc.

“They point to the Perak model where when Pakatan won the head of Government was a Malay but he was totally subservient to the DAP (Chinese).

“When the Pakatan Government with Nizar of PAS as the MB was brought down, the DAP told the Chinese that they had lost a Chinese Government. The Chinese in Perak have since become anti-BN,” he added.

He was referring to Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, the PAS leader who helmed Perak for 10 months in 2008 in a DAP-dominated government before a series of defections led to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) return to power in the silver state.

Dr Mahathir claimed that the DAP is taking advantage of the fact that the Malays today are divided between Umno and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partners PKR and PAS, which gives DAP all the leverage it needs.

Explaining, he said the split support among the Malays would mean that all three Malay-based parties — Umno, PKR and PAS — would need to rely on Chinese support to win an election.

In such a situation, he alleged that DAP would not need to be directly in charge as they would have already worked out an arrangement with their PR partners where they would have their prime minister of choice under their thumb.

“Physically holding office is not necessary. If the Prime Minister is totally under the control of the DAP then it would become a Chinese dominated Government,” he said, adding that the DAP could very well see their so-called vision come true as soon as the next national polls if the trend of declining support for the ruling BN coalition continues.

Dr Mahathir insisted that the power-sharing formula now practised by BN — especially with the recent decision by MCA to rejoin the Cabinet after initially refusing to do so due to their poor outing in last year’s general election — is still the best way forward for the country.

He stressed that the DAP’s alleged plan to dominate the country’s politics and economy would only perpetuate a culture where each race will only look out for its own interests above the collective interests of the nation.

“Forget the idea of dominating all fields, of dominating both politics and economics. Go back to the idea of sharing. It will not be forever. It will be only for the duration when the Malays through their numbers dominate politics and the Chinese through their business acumen and money dominate the economy.

“Once the Malays and other indigenous people gain a fair share of the economic wealth of this country, they will lose their fear of Chinese domination. At that stage the Chinese share of political power would be enhanced.

“It may take years but that is as much as we can expect for as long as we insist on being identified by our racial origins,” he said.

BN is currently in a straight tussle with PKR in the Kajang state by-election this March 27. The ruling pact has put MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun as their candidate against PKR president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/dr-m-malaysia-will-be-like-singapore-if-pakatan-takes-power

September 19, 2014