Comment: It is highly likely or Pakatan Rakyat to repeat its own history of separation in 2001. If this were eventually to become a reality, democracy would invariably suffer a major setback in this country.
Although it is not easy to split the opposition pact now that the three component parties making up of it have tasted some sweetness of power, a burning point could be all it takes to bring it to knees, and this could be another election (Sarawak state election) that would attest to the fact that the voters are beginning to forsake Pakatan, forcing DAP and PKR to make really painful choices.
Judging from the current situation, it has become a real challenge for Pakatan to woo back the middle voters who are beginning to swing away from it. Among the factors, Pakatan leaders are fast losing their fighting spirit while PAS inches closer towards conservatism and accentuated conflicts among the three parties.
The Pakatan crisis does not take its root in the Selangor MB issue but last year's general elections. Although Pakatan Rakyat secured 52% of popular votes in GE13, the eventuality remained a painful development for Pakatan leaders who had vowed to wrestle the federal administration from the BN. Moreover, with Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Hadi Awang now in their advanced ages, they might not the charisma to rally the people behind their struggles.
While Kit Siang is still moving around places after the general elections, the attitudes of the other leaders have shown signs of changing. Kit Siang has nevertheless remained surprisingly quiet after the crisis in Selangor has come into public limelight.
The waning fighting spirit of Pakatan's leaders has dealt a serious blow on the morale of their members. Pakatan has lost its strategies, such that Anwar has no choice but to come up with a grand design of "Kajang Plan," claiming that his takeover of Selangor MB post will vastly facilitate the opposition pact's inroads into Putrajaya, which couldn't have been more absurd. Umno's strongholds are the Malay villages littered all across the country, and how effective could it be for Pakatan to use Selangor as a launchpad to sink BN's fortresses?
Although Pakatan lost the election war in GE13, it nevertheless won itself a future. Unfortunately the opposition pact has failed to harness such a favorable change in the voters' minds to consolidate its own organization in order to keep the momentum going.
Umno's inclination towards ethnic politics could have offered a unique opportunity for Pakatan to gain some ground. However, Pakatan leaders have failed the people because of their power craze and restricted scope of vision.
Federal administration is indeed an alluring bait for the three parties to come together as a pact, but when this bait has started to lose its appeals, conflicts ensue.
The inclination of the conservatives within PAS is yet another factor that is bogging down Pakatan. The party remained loyal to their Pakatan partners prior to last year's general elections. But after the elections, the disenchanted PAS started to brew the idea of collaborating with Umno in its bid to ultimately establish an Islamic state on this land.
Nik Aziz used to support the liberals within the party while affirmatively opposing any form of cooperation with Umno. Nevertheless, he did not block the collaboration between PAS and Umno on the implementation of hudud laws in Kelantan this time. As if that is not enough, he joined hands with party president Hadi Awang to pledge support for Khalid Ibrahim in an open display of discord with Anwar Ibrahim.
The party has never concealed its ambition to merge religious teachings with politics, and the conservatives would exhaust every possible means to see to this. Nik Aziz might have seen the reality that the only way for him to witness the establishment of an Islamic state in his remaining years will be to work hand in hand with Umno.
Most worryingly, PAS conservatives' extreme attitude might not be able to
Basically, it has become inevitable that PAS, under the auspices of Nik Aziz and Hadi Awang, is tilting decisively towards conservatism, or the stalemate over hudud could have been resolved under the Pakatan spirit.
It is anticipated that PAS will remain very much ambiguous like this, leaning towards Umno while still calling itself a sworn partner of Pakatan, to achieve its ultimate goal of an Islamic state. What is at stake is the public support for Pakatan Rakyat.
Pakatan has claimed that it represents the country's future political hope, but has over and again failed the 52% voters who cast their ballots in favor of its leaders. As such, it is imperative that DAP and PKR make the decisive move to have a showdown with PAS in order to put an end to the current chaotic leadership.
There is no way for Pakatan to attempt to bring down a conservative force with more conservatism. It must strive to woo the young Malays and more liberal supporters of PAS to crush the BN fortresses.
By Lim Sue Goan
Translated by Dominic Loh
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