A fresh look at the DAP-PAS conflict
Kua Kia Soong has a point; the two parties are equally guilty.
Scott Ng, Free Malaysia Today
I first heard of Kua Kia Soong in a Starbucks seven years ago, when I was working there part-time. A cadre of uncles of all races gathered there every night like clockwork around 10pm to discuss politics and other current matters. These discussions would bring me to their table during my breaks and open up my mind to the intricate, frustrating, and contradictory art of politics. In hindsight, the timing was just right. The 2008 political tsunami was happening, and it was an exciting time to be interested in local politics.
I owe a lot to those uncles. Among the things I’m grateful for was their introduction to me of Kua’s book about May 13, in which he alleges that the entire episode was a smokescreen to cover a coup d’état meant to dispossess the traditional Malay rulers of their powers.
I remember reading that book with trepidation, but also amazement, as the puzzle finally made sense in my head. I felt like I understood now why the world around me was the way it was – someone made it that way. A million little inconsistencies in my life as a Malaysian fell into place as I realised my position in this world and just how fragile that position was, given the lengths some men were willing to go to for power.
I respect Kua Kia Soong a lot. And when he says something is off about the political party I am inclined to support, I feel I owe it to myself to pay attention.
By now, we’re all familiar with the drama between PAS and DAP. I have typed countless words about my disgust with Hadi Awang, about how PAS under his stewardship is destined for irrelevance in the next GE. But Kua has a point. It takes two hands to clap, and he made it undeniably clear that DAP shares the blame for the self-destruction of the only viable alternative to Barisan Nasional that we had.
We often forget that DAP and PAS have been allies before, in Barisan Alternatif. PAS was undoubtedly the star of that alliance, capturing Kelantan and Terengganu in the 1998 GE. However, a lacklustre showing from the DAP saw Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh losing their constituencies. According to Kua, DAP blamed PAS for its losses. Something similar had happened in 1990, when DAP and PAS were loosely allied through Gagasan Rakyat. Kua alleges that even then, it was DAP that decided to cut ties with PAS, fearing that its “Chinese ground” would find the alliance unacceptable.
Fast forward to 2008, and many from BN saw the writing on the wall. PAS and DAP would eventually come to loggerheads over their ideologies and principles, and all BN would need to do was light a spark to set the Opposition aflame. We heard the warning that this coalition could not last because it was one born of convenience and not of a united political platform, and we pooh-poohed it, wishfully thinking that this time things would be different.
And they were, for a time. But man makes plans and God laughs. And Pakatan Rakyat self-destructed in a perfect storm of setbacks, starting with the failed Kajang Move, which PAS protested against. Then there was the incarceration of Anwar Ibrahim, PAS’ decision to ram through hudud in its stronghold of Kelantan, the DAP’s subsequent response, and we find ourselves here today, disappointed and unsatisfied, hoping that the opposition parties can pull their heads from their nether regions and start doing some work.
