Guan Eng Should Lead Pakatan
By Dajmarizal Zolkipli, Malaysian Digest
Nothing lasts forever. And the way things are going for Anwar Ibrahim, it would be highly probable that the opposition leader’s presence in the political scene may be numbered. With Anwar’s enemies bent on putting the Opposition leader behind bars by way of allegations of sodomy and the purported sex video scandal, the reality of the situation for Pakatan Rakyat is that it needs to think of Anwar’s successor.
Looking at the possible candidates to take over the Pakatan leadership we have the likes of Lim Kit Siang (DAP adviser), Karpal Singh (DAP chairman), Abdul Hadi Awang (PAS president), Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR president) and Azmin Ali (PKR deputy president). From this name list, the two main key leaders from PKR Wan, Azizah and Azmin would naturally be considered by many as potential figures to take over from Anwar. Anwar did hinted that he wanted to pass the baton to Azmin, however, most people, even those in PKR, do not approve of this suggestion by the party de facto leader.
PKR Leaders Can’t Hack It
The only reason Azmin is untouchable is because of his deep pockets and, of course, he always have Anwar’s backing for reasons known to a certain few (i.e. former PKR member K S Nallakarupan and Azmin’s sister Umi Hafilda) who are close to Anwar and his blue-eyed boy. Basically, the PKR deputy president ‘bought’ the support of PKR members by giving out money to party members/leaders who were in a bad financial state. Many also feel that Azmin is too temperamental in nature and not really PM material as he is too temperamental in nature.
As for Anwar’s wife, though she’s an eligible candidate based on the party presidency post that she currently holds, Wan Azizah lacks the charisma among other qualities that is required of an effective political leader. She’s just too nice of a lady (and there’s nothing wrong with that). Besides, if Wan Azizah is to be elected to lead Pakatan, it would risk the opposition pact to be perceived as the ‘party of Anwar’s family’. This can’t be good for a coalition party which claims that its main struggle is to combat corruption, cronyism and nepotism.
Are PAS Reps Be Passable?
There had been some sort of renaissance that had transpired in PAS since the tsunami election of 2008. With the emergence the ‘Erdogan’ group made up of high-caliber leaders by the likes of former Perak mentri besar Nizar Jamaluddin and Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, among others, PAS have succeeded in amassing confidence of the non-Malay/non-Muslim voters. Thanks to its ‘moderate Muslim’ rebranding exercise PAS has successfully propelled itself from an Islam-centric party to a ‘PAS for All’ cadre.
Its president Abdul Hadi Awang would be the most valid figure from PAS to succeed Anwar as Pakatan chief even if he’s not half as popular than his very senior head honcho Nik Aziz Nik Mat who has reached cult status. The only problem for Hadi is that people are well aware of the fact that Hadi is keen on the ‘Pro-Kerajaan Perpaduan’ idea which would see a PAS-Umno unity. Many see the possibility of this PAS-Umno unity or merger or alliance or whatever you call it (no one really knows of the actual technicalities of the deal) as a sell-out move on PAS’ part. The ‘Edrogan’ lot are also dead against this idea.
For Hadi to even be considered to fill in the role of Pakatan chief he must not only scrap the Kerajaan Perpaduan proposal, he must also downplay, or even better, let go somehow of their championing of an Islamic state. This argument deserves to be manifested in another article of its own but like it or not this is what it takes for PAS to take it to the next level.
DAP Gaining Momentum
While PAS has gone through an interesting development so is its unlikely Pakatan partner DAP has been experiencing a transformation of its own. The party has gained plenty of ground since the historical political tsunami and it looks like all the hard work has paid off.
