faux PAS @ bagan pinang
Art Harun
If politics is the art of convincing people to follow one's beliefs, ideologies and principles, then the Bagan Pinang by-election should teach PAS, and the Pakatan Rakyat, some basic things in politics.
Allow me to firstly tell what happened to me some 4 years ago in London. I was walking along Old Bond Street, pushing a pram with my daughter inside. From about 10 meters away, a Malay man, followed by 3 other men, rushed towards me. He gave me a warm "hello, apa khabar" greeting and extended his hand to "bersalam" with me. He then introduced me to his 3 friends. We chatted for a while. He later pinched my daughter's cheek before saying he had to move on as he could not really stand still for too long in the cold winter. He then said bye-bye with a smile and left.
The thing was, I did not even know who he was. We haven't met before. And yet he was so friendly. It was as if making friends out of a total stranger was second nature to him.
What has this got to do with Bagan Pinang? Well, that man was Tan Sri Isa, the victor in the recently concluded by-election. It was so clear from the start that he was such a personable man and well liked by the folks in Bagan Pinang. His character alone was sufficient to win the state seat for the Barisan Nasional.
When a local boy with such personable character is put down as a candidate, it would always be a mountain to climb for PAS and the Pakatan Rakyat. Added to that the mighty machines of the BN; the mainstream mass media controlled by the BN and the various authorities who were more than a little bit bias towards the BN all the time; the lopsided application of rules and regulations by the authorities (the BN could campaign in the army camp while the opposition could not, for example) and the number of postal voters in the area, the odds were heavily stacked against the opposition from the word go. Never mind that everybody knows what the good Tan Sri had done last summer. Or every summer for that matter. The folks are not going to be swayed by some "technical matters".
Permatang Pauh had shown that when facing a popular and charismatic local boy, the opponent should not go about town ridiculing the local boy. Or bad mouthing him. That is like you coming to my house to tell me that my son is a corrupt man or that he was a sodomite. If you did not get a tight slap from me, you would be lucky. Unfortunately, the BN was given a really tight slap in Permatang Pauh. And now PAS had its derriere kicked for doing exactly the same thing.
The Pakatan Rakyat has shown that it is a force to be reckoned with in the general election last year as well as the many by-elections it had won. But it has yet to show the people that the motley crew that it consists are capable of working together as a viable alternative federal government.
It bears aspiration to win the next general election. All good and well. However, if the Pakatan Rakyat is devoid of any common stand on the fundamental issues, the people are going to see the Pakatan Rakyat as a marriage of convenience and nothing more. It is on this front – where a coalition is judged by the perception of the people – that the PR's Achilles heel lies.
The seemingly chaotic ideological warfare within the PR at best reflects a progressive democratic processes and practice. At worst, it is a sign of a coalition which is devoid of any sort of basic aims and goals. In Pakatan Rakyat, this ideological differences are on a different plane altogether.
