Selangor MB commotion is a test to Pakatan

Zhang Hai Rong (translated name)

Oriental Daily, 02-10-2014

PKR Deputy President Azmin was sworn in on Sept 23 to be the new Menteri Besar after receiving the appointment letter from the Selangor Palace. The tug-of-war among Pakatan partners of PKR, DAP and PAS has now settled. The dramatic power struggle has revealed the poor leadership quality of the three Pakatan partners which allowed the struggle growing beyond control.

The row over the replacement of the Menteri Besar has made people, especially the Chinese, to be more aware of their future in the bigger political environment. People want multiracialism under a two party system. However, does DAP, which commands 70 per cent Chinese support, have the capacity and political will to play the role of checks and balances and to reflect the aspiration of the people?

With 38 MPs, DAP should be the supreme leader of Pakatan. However, it gave the post of Opposition Leader to PKR’s Anwar. Politics is about number. The party with the largest number of MPs should be leading. By giving up the top post, DAP has gone against the convention and that encourages PAS to create trouble.

Actually, if Pakatan has a powerful supremo, replacing an MB is a simple job. Barisan under the leadership of UMNO has changed their MBs several times, were there any such problems? Maybe you would say the change of MB only involves UMNO and not the other 12 component Barisan partners. However, even within UMNO, there are factions and even the Prime Minister has pressure.

Pakatan does not have an authoritative leader and thus, nothing works even after so many meetings and negotiations. Very obviously, Anwar has lost his authority and PAS is not making room for him and listening to him.

After the MB incident, we have seen the ugly side of Pakatan and we have understood their capability in crisis management. Can we now hand over the management of the nation to them? DAP has no guts to do it alone. It has no self-conviction and has to kowtow to PKR’s de facto leader Anwar and follow what he says. PAS on the other hand has self-conviction and is not easily swayed. The hope of the Chinese community crumbled as they saw how helpless DAP had been in dealing with PAS.

Original Source: 雪州大臣风波考验民联