Calm before the storm?
Lim Mun Fah, Sin Chew Daily
Following the swearing-in of Mohamed Azmin Ali, the dust has finally settled on the Selangor MB crisis.
But it is not yet time to draw a sigh of relief as the crisis is anything but over. We have yet to see how Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is going to pick up the pieces, how Azmin will run the state and how the three parties that make up Pakatan Rakyat will reconcile. In addition, we are also concerned about possible changes to the country’s political system as a result of this crisis.
Without a doubt, the relationship among the three parties of Pakatan Rakyat has suffered a tremendous blow because of this. PAS has not always been in agreement with DAP over certain issues, and now the Islamist party finds new differences with PKR. How will these three parties which Hadi Awang has admitted have very different political goals ever get together again?
In this whole thing, DAP has been playing a passive role right from the start, dancing to the tune of PKR’s de facto leader Anwar. But that also means DAP suffers the least impact among the three parties in this crisis. At least the party will not be like its other allies in Pakatan, PKR and PAS, which are going through a period of relative calm for the time being before a major storm strikes.
In the just-concluded PAS general assembly, the conservatives and the liberals were locked in a fierce war of words, unreservedly exposing the real discord within the party. The two Selangor reps whom party president Hadi labelled “accomplices” insisted they supported Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail of their own accord while vowing they would not quit the party. The outcome of this power wrestling between the conservatives and the liberals has decisive effects on the party’s future directions as well as the cooperation with their allies in Pakatan Rakyat.
Although PKR has managed to keep the MB post and has accepted the appointment of Azmin as the new MB, anyone with a sound mind should be able to tell that to PKR, this is a reluctant eventuality, more so to Anwar.
This shows that Anwar’s painstakingly designed “Kajang Plan” has completely flopped, and this will have a detrimental toll on his personal reputation and integrity. To make things worse, the power struggle within PKR will be aggravated following Azmin’s appointment as Selangor MB, making it all the more challenging for Pakatan to put through its Putrajaya plan come the next general elections.
It is unbecoming that a minor power struggle issue that could have been internally settled has now cost the entire party so dearly, that even the cordial working relationship among the three parties is now in peril. Anwar has a responsibility to bear. In this whole thing, Anwar’s judgement and the way he handled the crisis is questionable. Once again, he has exposed his weaknesses and conceite.
The Selangor MB crisis has exposed the stark reality that Pakatan Rakyat is indeed a very lax organisation, with a vulnerable foundation for the three parties to work together – a far cry from what the public expected from them. If the three parties fail to make amends, Pakatan might as well be inching closer towards decline.
No one can dominate a party forever. It is a matter of time before the “post-Anwar” era arrives. If the three parties are to work together again, then someone will have to take Anwar’s place as the supreme leader of Pakatan.
This is yet another big question mark that hangs over us after the Selangor MB crisis.
