The Need For A ‘Third Force’ In Malaysian Politics?
My Living Wall
A suggestion has been floated that we could benefit from a ‘third force’ in national politics. A third force could induce Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to purge themselves of troublemaking or corruptive elements and to rejuvenate.
It is mooted that Gerakan leave BN, reform itself and act as this ‘third force’, a sort of Gerakan Rakyat movement.
While this is an interesting proposition, it is acknowledged that there are difficulties in this happening. Gerakan lacks reach nationally and is overwhelmingly centred in Penang. It is alsounlikely to recover Penang as its power base in the foreseeable future. Gerakan needs at its helm bold, visionary and independent-minded leaders like one of its founders, Syed Hussein Alatas, not stale and subservient ones who cling on to Barisan Nasional for a paycheck. For a ‘third force’ consisting of Gerakan to get off the ground Gerakan has to return to its intellectual, principled and fiercely independent roots.
Which takes us to some thoughts on how this ‘third force’ idea could be expanded.
Considering that Gerakan alone may not be a force potent enough at the national scale, there are other parties that could align themselves to and augment this third alliance.
Springing to mind are SAPP and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), and possibly one other new party, perhaps a green party. (The Human Rights Party of Malaysia would have been a candidate but has too narrow and divisive a scope).
It may appear that Malaysians may not be ready for a green party, but in strategic terms, a green party with a broad enough goal could be appealing to a section of Malaysia’s young, urban constituencies and marginalised, rural communities. The misconception that green parties are just about trees should be discarded. The platform of such parties encompass matters that are relevant to the average person, such as sustainable development (also see here for the wide range of policies green parties may concern themselves with). Green parties exist in countries like Somalia, Brazil and Ukraine. So why not in megadiverse Malaysia?
In fact, Gerakan (and the other two parties I mentioned) could orient themselves to embrace such progressive causes while retaining their original flavour.
This alliance need not be a formal coalition and can be a loose one, looser than Pakatan Rakyat at its inception. This would allow these very separate parties to freely develop and champion certain key but niche causes. This may imply a limited voter base, but there is advantage in targeting a small but fairly certain number of electoral seats. Moreover, their distinctive cohesion could draw additional votes.
Read more at: http://mylivingwall.com/en/politics-news-menu-71/7462-the-need-for-a-third-force-in-malaysian-politics
