Stop ‘self-destruct mode’, Pakatan leaders told
(Malay Mail Online) – A PAS backroom strategist pleaded today with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders to end their infighting that has put the fledgling opposition pact on a “self-destruct mode” in its power struggle for Malaysia’s richest state.
Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad warned the leaders that voters and their political foes were watching their moves closely, saying they would be judged as the ones who started the crisis should their pact break apart.
“You will be recorded in history as the leaders who allowed Pakatan Rakyat to split and you will be remembered as the leaders who started the conflict and the crisis this time!” Dzulkefly said in a statement on his Facebook page.
“Come on. Stop this destructive cycle of violence and let each and every one of us shout ‘Enough is enough of destroying Pakatan Rakyat!’
“The people are relying on you, but you are all clawing each other and perceived as fighting only for your self-interests and not prioritising the people or the country,” he added in the strongly worded statement, which he stressed was his personal opinion.
The executive director of the Islamist party’s research centre, dubbed a progressive, told PR leaders that it would be “very unfortunate” if the pack were to break up just a year after it succeeded in keeping the Barisan Nasional coalition from reclaiming its two-thirds rule.
“Because the people know that we are the only hope of checking and posing a threat to Umno-BN which has been arrogant in ruling the country, in the coming 14th general election,” Dzulkefly wrote.
The PAS central committee member also called on the PR presidential council to speed up their table talks to end the Selangor mentri besar crisis instead of waiting to meet on August 10.
Malay Mail Online reported yesterday that the crisis over Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s position as Selangor mentri besar is a catalyst for the conservatives in PAS to steer the Islamist party back to its fundamental roots in fighting for an Islamic state.
The antithetical ideologies between the Islamic PAS and secularist DAP were put aside in the 2008 general election when both parties worked together with PKR, led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and denied the long-ruling BN its customary two-thirds majority in Parliament.
The political cooperation was then cemented as the PR pact. The three parties did not include hudud in their common policy framework, and went on to gain even more ground in the general election last year although they failed to unseat BN.
The imbroglio over the Selangor crisis worsened when a PAS central committee member’s message in a private conversation among his party colleagues on chat platform WhatsApp was leaked on the internet Monday, revealing a discussion for the Islamist party to leave PR and to join forces with rivals Umno to control Selangor and retain Khalid as MB.
PAS research centre operations director Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki had also said a PAS-Umno pact would be able to quell dissent from the DAP and silence churches and minorities effectively, sparking outrage among PKR and the DAP who demanded that the Islamist party discipline him.
