Stop pretending to be in power

By Baradan Kuppusamy (The Star)

AS the saying goes, all’s fair in love and war. And it is time the Pakatan Rakyat coalition face up to the fact that they lost the Perak Government in early March after three of their compatriots defected to the Barisan Nasional.

Subterfuge it may be to persuade the three to defect but such manoeuvres are the substance of realpolitik similar to the failed Sept 16 putsch by Pakatan leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to take over the Federal Government through defection.

Since the loss, the Perak Pakatan has not given up hope of returning to power by other ways, including counter-defections, court rulings or through a snap state election.

As a result, although defeated, they are not acting like a responsible opposition in the state assembly, where they can be effective in providing checks and balance to the Barisan-led state government.

Instead, they have been maintaining a facade, pretending to be the legitimate government when power has already effectively passed on to the Barisan-led administration headed by Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

In reality, not only has the Pakatan lost the government, they have also lost the symbols of power that are intrinsic to ruling — their official cars, perks and allowances as executive councillors, the right to executive offices and the use of facilities and staff, and the power to direct the state civil service.

Above all, they have lost the power to make laws, tax the people and make an annual budget.

Significantly when the Pakatan Rakyat “convened” a sitting of the state assembly in a hotel on Wednesday after failing to enter the State Secretariat building, the “assembly” did not pass any laws but only tabled and “approved” resolutions.

In addition to the loss of real and imagined power, the day-to-day running of the state government has also been passed to the administration led by Dr Zambry, as has the right to seek an audience with the palace to convene the state assembly.

With so much gone, what’s left with the Perak Pakatan Rakyat coalition is their angst, a keen determination not to concede defeat despite losing the government and two cases at the highest level of the judiciary.

These cases were filed to determine who is the rightful chief minister – whether it is Dr Zambry or former mentri besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin — and an ancillary application to decide who is the rightful Speaker — Barisan’s Datuk R. Ganesan or Pakatan’s S. Sivakumar.

The purpose of the numerous attempts to pretend to be the ruling government is of course to keep alive the flame of grievance among Pakatan members and supporters in the state.

There is also fervent hope among Pakatan leaders that no matter how slim the chances, the courts might restore Pakatan back to power or a snap election would be called soon.

Until then, their attempt to pretend to be the government would continue.

Even if Pakatan Rakyat is back in power, the arithmetic still works against them as they have only 28 members, while the Barisan has 28 representatives plus three friendly “independents.”

Even if Pakatan were to return to power by a court ruling, they still don’t have the requisite numbers to form a government, a situation that leads to further instability.

The best option for the Pakatan is to end their brinkmanship, stop pretending to be the government and start behaving as a responsible opposition to do good for the constituents.

If they insist on pretending to be the government they can take the facade to ludicrous heights – to the extent of enacting laws, drawing up the annual budget, taxing the people and giving themselves a big pay rise.

They can even “dissolve” the assembly and call for a fresh election, like how they imposed a RM500,000 fine on Speaker Ganesan for agreeing to be elected the Speaker.

No doubt the sudden loss of power and status has deeply hurt Perak Pakatan leaders, who are all inexperience and new to ruling and handling power.

A change in government was also a new thing for the people in Perak, who were used to continuous rule by the Barisan Nasional since Merdeka.

For the Barisan too, losing power was a new experience in a state like Perak where 49% of the voters are non-Malays.

There is therefore an all-round need in Perak to end the bickering, to give and take and to agree to disagree and to fight another day.

The next general election is not too far away.

In the meantime the people need a government and they should not be deprived of one.

Equally important, they need a strong, experienced and able opposition.

This is the simple lesson from England, the land where parliamentary democracy was born, that saw wars, executions and even beheadings in its long history.

We should not let political decorum collapse and allow anarchy to rule the day.