A Long Political Battle In Perak
By Lim Sue Goan (Sin Chew Daily)
From the political development in Perak, we could see that Pakatan Rakyat is taking a long-term resistance strategy. This including to carry on former state executive council meetings and works until the court's judgement and hold a nationwide signature campaign to submit the memorandum to the Sultan of Perak for the request of dissolving the state legislative assembly. On the same time, protest rallies would also be ongoing. Pakatan Rakyat is trying to carry out a counter-attack with mass power.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is confident of his political tricks and committed in seizing the federal regime last year, sees loosing Perak as his failure and it is a humiliation for him to allow BN to seize Perak by tricks. According to his style and character, he would not let it go just like that. Last year, he brought up the 9/16 regime change plan and one of the objectives would be to stabilise Pakatan Rakyat and ensure no hopping from his party. But now, he is ridiculed by BN. Therefore, personally and politically, there would be more fierce confrontations between the two parties, particularly between Anwar and Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
| "The economic packages would be difficult to obtain comprehensive results if the confidence of the people and businesses is damaged." |
It is not an easy path to win back the state regime through the court as it is time consuming to judge whether the three seats are vacant or to prosecute the new Menteri Besar. Thus, public campaigns and pressures or even nationwide protests would help Pakatan Rakyat in gaining the people's support.
The change of regime in Perak is in fact not only a political issue, but it also involves power of the royal family, as well as the monarchical and state governments' limits of authority. In order to strike back, Umno is going to launch a yellow ribbon campaign as a sign of loyalty to the Sultan. But the issue raised up by Pakatan Rakyat is having a great impact on the Malay community's way of thinking.
If the Perak incident is extended to become a "national issue", BN would have to pay a certain price. Other than harming the credibility of the BN government, it would not be easy for the government to revive the economy under an unstable political situation.
In order to save the economy, the government must first ensure political stability and gain public cooperation (including the four Pakatan Rakyat sate governments). The economic packages would be difficult to obtain comprehensive results if the confidence of the people and businesses is damaged. Therefore, if BN really plans to rope in Pakatan Rakyat's lawmakers to seize Kedah, it would have to profoundly think about it before taking any action.
Although BN said with certainty that it would perform well in Perak to gain the people's support, is BN confident to lift the people's hardship in such a poor economic situation?
Pakatan Rakyat plans to hold more rallies in Perak while Umno Youth is going to launch a big rally to show their loyalty to the royal family. The consequences for politicians to evoke sentiments at rallies could be really bad. Economic slowdown and political confrontations could lead the country into greater difficulties. We do not want to see that and we do not want it to become a reality. (By LIM SUE GOAN/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily)
