KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — The troubles in PAS have added to woes faced by the three-party opposition alliance which harbours hopes of ruling Malaysia after the next general election.
PAS is part of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance that includes Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s PKR and DAP.
PKR has been rocked by several issues, the latest being a tussle revolving around its new star recruit Zaid Ibrahim, a former Cabinet minister, with Anwar loyalist and PKR vice-president Azmin Ali.
Datuk Zaid has been working on a framework to gel PR together, but has been tripped up by his move to get close to PKR’s Sabah supporters despite being told to stay away for now.
Azmin has been an unpopular choice to lead Sabah PKR and there was unhappiness that Zaid chose to stand with his detractors.
There have also been several issues of alleged corruption and abuse of power involving PKR’s state leaders in recent months.
And one of PKR’s more prominent MPs, lawyer Zulkifli Noordin, has caused much unhappiness in the opposition camp by pushing forward his hard-line Islamic values.
“While Zaid busies himself trying to put in place a common policy framework for the three Pakatan Rakyat parties to forge a viable, long-term working relationship with a view to finally registering a coalition, Zul (Zulkifli) seems equally busy doing everything he can to throw a spanner in Zaid’s efforts,” rights lawyer Haris Ibrahim wrote in his blog on Thursday.
PAS, too, has been wracked by infighting over how far it wants to push its Islamic agenda without alienating its non-Muslim voter base.
And the DAP has been kept busy defending the alliance against the Islamic leanings of its partners.
These issues are worrying for the opposition because its leaders are working to turn the PR alliance into a formal coalition, with a view to taking over the country after the 2013 general election.
The opposition’s hopes were raised after it won an unprecedented five of Malaysia’s 13 states in the March 2008 general election, and 82 of the 222 Parliament seats.
But these days, a dark cloud hangs over the opposition.
PR has lost one of the five states, Perak, to the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN). And the states under PR control — Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan — are struggling to push for economic growth as federal funds for development must still come from the BN central government.
These days, even opposition supporters themselves are asking: If the PR parties cannot get their act together now, how can they run the country?
And all these are happening just when Umno appears to be on the mend after winning convincingly in a by-election in Negri Sembilan three weeks ago.
Ahmad Lutfi Othman, the editor of PAS newspaper Harakah, wrote on Thursday that he was worried that the “pendulum factor” may be at work again.
He was referring to the Malaysian voters’ record of solidly backing BN in one general election, only to reverse direction at the very next. And then repeating the pattern five years later.
Lutfi said he was “ready to be scolded if I have to express my worries that the next round (the 2013 general election) will likely be in favour of BN”, unless the opposition leaders buck up. — The Straits Times
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