Another party in the pipeline but can it deliver?
Ian McIntyre, The Ant Daily
Records show that there are about 30 registered political parties in Malaysia now, while 55 had either been deregistered or turned extinct since the country was founded.
The single largest registered coalition is the Barisan Nasional with 14 parties as members, and Umno as its lynchpin. Umno is also the party with the largest number of members.
Countering BN is the Opposition upstart – the Pakatan Rakyat alliance which consists of PAS, PKR and DAP. In terms of membership, it is believed that PAS has the highest number with almost one million card-holders, followed by PKR and DAP in Pakatan.
Now plans are afoot to launch yet another political party later this month.
The founders are now busy meeting up with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to formalise things, and they will soon hold a press conference to announce the arrival of this new party.
“We are tying up loose ends and we will soon unveil the party,” one of the founders confirmed in a brief interview.
They declined to be named due to the sensitive nature of the issue but the party is said to consist of ex-grassroots leaders from Umno, MCA, DAP and PKR.
They were unwilling to divulge more as it was part of their strategy to have an element of “surprise” during their unveiling.
Their ideology is said to be based on a multi-ethnic outlook with a constitution modelled after PKR or DAP.
Malaysia has an average population base of about 30 million of which around 17 million are believed to be registered voters.
It is a relatively small nation compare to Indonesia, whose population is said to be hovering close to 250 million, Thailand at 67 million and Philippines at 100 million.
Yet, it has about 30 parties vying to represent the populace.
“Too many,” said former Bukit Bendera PKR division head Jason Ong Khang Lee.
This was his initial reaction but after studying the political situation in the country now, Ong relented and replied that the idea of a new party depended on the circumstances.
The new party is said to be focused in Penang, which already has Parti Cinta Malaysia – helmed by the former Gerakan vice-president Huan Cheng Guan.
To this, Ong said that there was noticeable downtrend in the ability of various political parties to cement national unity since last year’s general election.
In Pakatan, there is a polemic quarrel about who is fit to become the mentri besar of the richest state – Selangor.
In BN, there is a disagreement between former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad with the present premier Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Therefore, it would be too early to predict if this new party would become another irrelevant statistic in the RoS, Ong concluded.
“If they win a few seats, people will sit up and take notice. For now, we just have to give them the benefit of doubt.”
In a thriving democracy, everyone should be allowed to assemble or to form political parties, Ong noted.
Sim Tze Tzin, who is the PKR Bayan Baru Member of Parliament, said that there is already a two-party (coalition) system operating since 2008.
There might not be any more space for a third front, he added. People are more inclined to vote either for Pakatan or Barisan.
But in politics, one can never really tell the outcome as it has descended into a game of perception rather than the traditional belief of who serves best.
Therefore, Sim would give this new party the benefit of doubt, but he is pessimistic about their chances of survival.
In the end, Malaysian politics are beginning to resemble a buffet spread where there are many “dishes” (parties) to choose from.
Choose carefully as one might choose a fattening dish, which may end up harming one’s health.
