IPOH, Oct 31 – After months of having its viability as an alternative government questioned, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance finally moved to clean up house today by hosting its first convention in one of the states that had caused its formation in the first place – Perak.
With troubles currently brewing within the inner workings of the alliance, through its three component parties of PAS, DAP and PKR, the convention has come at an appropriate time.
Its launch at the Syuen Hotel here this morning saw some 600 delegates from PKR, DAP and PAS congregating under one roof to refute doubts of their unity and to draw out a single, unified strategy that would convince voters of their viability as an alternative government to the Barisan Nasional (BN).
The convention is the first such event where top leaders and grassroots members of each component party were given an avenue to thrash out their differences.
Ousted Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, in his opening address at the convention, was quick to remind the delegates of the chronology of events that had caused the PR to exist.
He reiterated tales of the exciting moments on the late night of March 8, 2008, when the shocking results of the election reached all Opposition assemblymen.
That night, he said, the results had caused jubilation not only because the BN had lost its grasp on many of the state seats in Perak, but because it had caused the three Opposition parties – DAP, PAS and PKR – to pool their strength together to work as one.
“It was late night on March 8 when we rushed to Ipoh and sat down together to discuss a combination government. Never in our dreams did we imagine it would happen,” he said in his speech.
Nizar added that it was then that many realised the very reason why for 52 years, the BN government had never been toppled.
“It was because we were working as individuals – fighting for the same cause to oust the BN government, but doing it on our own, as individual parties and with our individual weaknesses.
“We would never have made it if we have continued struggling that way,” he said.
Through the PR, however, he said, the Opposition had better power, better strength and a bigger voice to represent the people.
“And this was what the people’s power had blessed us with. They gave us the mandate to rule and we took heed, combined our powers and formed the PR,” he said.
In the historic March 8 elections, the Perak BN had garnered 28 seats in the legislative assembly, allowing them to form the government if the PR parties, through DAP’s 18 seats, PKR’s seven seats and PAS’s six, had not decided to form a coalition and combine its numbers to reach a majority of 31 seats.
Nizar said that the formation of PR, despite the glaring differences of beliefs and ideologies in the three parties, was the best solution to weed out corruption in the government and bring justice to the country.
“We were friends before, even before the PR was formed. We fought for similar causes.
“But the BN had been playing a perception game on us all throughout the years, painting the DAP as a chauvinistic Chinese-centric party and PAS as a terrorist group,” he said.
The loose PR alliance tasted its first bitter fruit when the BN successfully toppled the Perak government early this year.
This, claimed Nizar, was the result of the “serpents and poisonous snakes” in the BN, who had conspired together to wrest back power in Perak in an illegal manner.
He recalled the tense moment on Feb 5 this year, when he was before the Sultan of Perak Sultan Azlan Shah in the ruler’s palace, and had just been told to resign and vacate the government’s seat.
“I was alone there, in front of Tuanku. I was not ready to go but I was asked to resign. He had not agreed to my request to dissolve the state assembly and call for elections.
“As I stood there, the faces of Perakians came to my mind. It gave me the strength to tell Tuanku that ‘no, I would not resign’. As I walked out of the palace that day, towards the media, I raised a thumbs-up sign and smiled. It was not easy,” he said.
“It has made us stronger. In fact, the PR alliance in Perak is the strongest and the most unified. This is why we will continue with the PR. With our strengths, we will continue.
“If the Nov 5 court decision (on his appeal on his case against current Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir) rules in my favour, I promise you, I will on the very same morning, go to the Sultan and seek for a dissolution,” he said.
Later, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who presented the convention’s first paper, said the basic premise of the PR alliance was the supremacy of the people.
“This is why I always prefer to use the term unity of Malaysians instead of unity of the races. The concept of racial unity seems to show that racial differences are more important than our values as true Malaysians,” he said.
He added that corruption in the BN government was clearly shown in the recent Auditor-General’s Report which revealed the astounding RM1.14bil loss in the electrified double-tracking project from Rawang to Ipoh, the purchase of a single laptop for RM42,320 and a nine-inch computer monitor for RM8,500 as well as a RM7.1bil loss that was possibly due the government’s Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd’s failure to fulfil its bond commitments.
“Besides the loss of funds, corruption has also caused the collapse of buildings like stadiums and the mosque in Terengganu,” he said.
Lim said that the BN and Umno’s divide and rule concept had served their personal coffers for many years and succeeded in blacking out the truth to the people.
“This is why for 51 years of their rule, the Malays are still poor and in fact, at least 90 per cent of the hardcore poor are Malays,” he said.
Lim also underlined examples of how the PR government in Penang, in its 18-month rule, had showed a sterling performance as proven in the A-G’s report.
“The report praised our administration and showed how a people-centric government had managed to save RM36mil and increase the state’s assets by 21.1 per cent or RM178mil,” he said.
In a press conference later, Lim said the convention was a starting point for all PR parties to come up with a new plan and a new front that would benefit the people.
“What we want is for the people to have ownership in their own states, in the place that they live,” he said.
The one-day convention will see the presentation of another paper by Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim on the state’s economy and debates on the Perak PR’s manifesto, to be presented by Perak DAP secretary Nga Kor Ming. It will conclude later with the tabling of resolutions and a final speech by Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat.
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Three Cheers for Pakatan Rakyat!!! may they UNITE to deliver Malaysia back to the MALAYIANS.