The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 — Time’s up, Pakatan Rakyat. The days of courting are over. You either decide to get married or go your separate ways. Malaysians have grown weary of the soap opera which is being played out every week (or is it every other day) by different members of the opposition alliance.

Headlines such as “DAP pulls out of Kedah state government”, “Unity talks irk PAS partners” were once greeted with a shrug of the shoulders and accepted as necessary growing pains of a nascent political coalition trying to find its footing post-Election 2008.

This charitable position was anchored on the belief that in time, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP) would check their egos at the door and cobble together a common platform for a better Malaysia.

Malaysians also wanted to know if the three political parties could reach common ground on their ideological positions.

Sadly, instead of working out the details and putting in place the architecture for a stronger, and permanent, Pakatan Rakyat, leaders from PKR, PAS and DAP have been squandering away the goodwill earned 16 months ago with petty politics and gamesmanship.

Sadly, instead of seizing a historic opportunity to show Malaysians that Pakatan Rakyat has medium- and long-term strategies for a better Malaysia, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang and Lim Kit Siang have been more focused on a Band Aid approach.

Driving this narrow-minded thinking is the underlying belief that if push comes to shove they can always return to their support base and secure the same support from Malaysians at the next general election.

So PAS can always count on conservative Malays, DAP on the Chinese and educated non-Malays and PKR on urban Malays. This argument is like a slice of Swiss cheese: full of holes.

The bulk of the votes that flowed to the three parties on March 8, 2008 were the result of a rejection of Barisan Nasional and what the ruling coalition stood for. It had little to do with what PKR, PAS and DAP had to offer the electorate individually.

So what Malaysians expected and desired was a committed attempt by the leaders of the three political parties to sit down and put in place the structure and policies of an alternative political system built on social justice, inclusiveness, transparency, rule of law and equality.

That desire is still there. That space is still there for the taking.

Because many Malaysians know that Umno/Barisan Nasional will never be able to deliver on its promise of making Malaysia a better place. Despite improved public relations and moves to liberalise the economy, Umno/BN is still infested with corrupt politicians (young and old) who after having purchased their positions with money expect to recoup “their investments’’ during their political career.

That is why the Port Klang Free Zone fiasco happened. That is why more than RM250 billion oil and gas revenue from Petronas to the government in the last five years have not had much of an impact on the ground.

That is why “unemployed” Umno/BN politicians are able to wear RM200,000 Patek Phillipe watches, live in mansions and own a fleet of top-of-the-range vehicles. Malaysians know of these excesses and are willing to give Pakatan Rakyat a chance at the ballot box.

But first PAS, DAP and PKR must show that they are committed to Pakatan Rakyat. As a first step, they should have a formal mechanism like a council to work out a common platform.

This council of Pakatan Rakyat leaders should meet several times a month and provide input on policies as well as state the coalition’s stand on important issues such as places of worship and the New Economic Policy.

The council can also advance and promote a unified Pakatan Rakyat agenda to convince the public of its ability to govern at federal level.

If PKR, DAP and PAS cannot agree on a permanent structure like a Pakatan Rakyat council or cannot put together a common platform, then perhaps it is time to end the courtship and inform Malaysians that you would like to stay friends. But marriage is out of the question.

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