An account before the birth of Pakatan Rakyat 2.0

Zhang Qing Luk (translated name)
Sin Chew Daily, September 9th 2015.

After the dissolution of Pakatan Rakyat in June, the Opposition needed to form a new political coalition to counter Barisan Nasional in the coming general election. They knew it well that the political strength of an individual party could not match their opponent. However the forming of Pakatan Rakyat 2.0 will face many obstacles. The main factor is the opposition parties have conflicting relationships.

PKR wanted PAS to remain in the New Pakatan Rakyat 2.0 but DAP welcomed Amanah to join the new Pakatan Rakyat 2.0 which was objected by PAS.

All the opposition parties had their own political agenda. The reason for Pas to reject Amanah strongly is quite simple. This is because Amanah is a split faction of PAS which has similar political struggle and ideology. (It is a progressive model of PAS.) Furthermore they are fighting for the same group of supporters and the relationship between the two parties is inter-related. Hence PAS will never allow Amanah to join New Pakatan Rakyat 2.0 to weaken its position. It is similar to MIC rejecting other Indian based parties to join Barisan National.

DAP had many controversial clashes with PAS which included the issue of implementing the hudud law. If DAP still forms a pact with PAS, it may affect its performance in the next election. At present the Chinese communities had already clearly rejected PAS and DAP would not be so stupid to interact with PAS again.

Replacing PAS with the more liberal Amanah will suit the interest of DAP.

PKR still needs the support of PAS to hold on to the administrative power of the Selangor state government as well as garner support from the Malays. In comparison to DAP and PAS, PKR`s foundation is the weakest and its influence is not that strong. If PKR lacks the support of PAS in the Malay dominated area or forced to face the situation in a three cornered fight with PAS and Barisan Nasional, the chance of winning is slim.

Amanah is a newly formed weak party with no asset in hands but it is open and willing to work with PAS. Therefore PAS has the upper hand to accept it or not.

Based on such a scenario, the birth of Pakatan Rakyat 2.0 may face many obstacles. It is very difficult to decide the component members of the new Pakatan Rakyat except at the very last minute.

Nevertheless the new Pakatan Rakyat 2.0 should avoid repeating mistakes like in the past. Initially when the three component parties of Pakatan Rakyat were formed, they disregarded the different ideology and conflicting objectives. Eventually after seven years, the coalition failed and broke up. Even though Pakatan Rakyat managed to break the monopoly of Barisan Nasional, it gave birth to a stronger PAS in the national political arena. This helps to promote Islamisation further which is conflicting with the democratic system of a secular state. This was the greatest mistake made by Pakatan Rakyat.

The new Pakatan Rakyat 2.0 should learn the lesson from the past by ensuring all component parties are heading towards the common goal and principle. Besides that they should also uphold the spirit of democracy and respect universal values so that our democracy is heading forward progressively.

Original Source:
寫在民聯2.0誕生之前