PKR, DAP tiff ‘tip of iceberg’
(NST) The tiff between Parti Keadilan Rakyat and DAP over the appointment of the Seberang Prai Municipal Council president is only the tip of the iceberg for the Pakatan Rakyat government.
Political analyst Dr Sivamurugan Pandian said the two parties and the third PR member, Pas, had been at each other's throats since they took over the state government more than a year ago.
The deputy dean of Universiti Sains Malaysia's School of Social Sciences said the situation was due to the parties' inexperience in administering the state.
"They are at such a fragile level.
"If they do not buck up, this will affect them in the next general election, just like what happened in Perak."
Pakatan lost power in Perak after assemblymen of DAP and PKR quit to become independents friendly to Bari-san Nasional, but even before the "crossover" there had been rumblings in the administration over who had more say in the executive council.
Sivamurugan also questioned PR's ability to take over the Federal Government if the coalition was unable to resolve problems at the state level.
"I see that in every state PR governs, the dominant party rules the state.
"In Penang's case, we see this as a DAP state rather than a PR state."
Since coming to power, DAP, PKR and Pas have never been short of problems.
Before fighting DAP in its failed bid for the MPSP president's post, PKR quarrelled with Pas over the choice of candidate for the just-concluded Penanti by-election.
State Pas members were dissatisfied with PKR's Mansor Othman being nominated as PR's candidate.
At the height of the dispute, Permatang Pauh Pas threatened to freeze its election machinery and was adamant on fielding its own candidate.
Although Mansor easily won the by-election in the absence of a BN candidate (and has since been sworn in as deputy chief minister I), the relationship between the three coalition members remains strained.
MPSP councillors led by Johari Kassim accused Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng of reneging on a promise to appoint a PKR man as council president. This is disputed by DAP.
The distrust between DAP and PKR can be gauged from comments from DAP insiders who suggested that the post was not given to a PKR member because the post was an important and powerful one.
Early in the state's administration, Pas members were critical of DAP over the alleged unfair sharing of power.
It was so bad that Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had to check the situation during the Permatang Pauh by-election in August.
Sivamurugan said these showed there were weaknesses in the coalition and that it was unable to effectively and collectively make decisions.
"They are jostling for power in the coalition.
"There is no compromising and sacrificing unlike in Barisan Nasional.
"They are just a marriage of convenience."
He said PR could not be populist all the time, focusing only on social issues and sympathy to win votes.
He said its supporters would get fed up and opt for change in the next general election.
