Why is Pakatan 2.0 committing the same mistakes again?
Hazlan Zakaria, The Ant Daily
There was a reason that the house of cards that was Pakatan Rakyat collapsed to the ground, and it fell down hard, blown to all four corners by its inability to take proper form and cement real cogent principles, instead of just a shared enemy and teetering compromises.
And now it seems even before it is formed, Pakatan 2.0 is looking like it is set to repeat the mistakes of before.
This as PKR and PAN continue to insist that PAS be allowed into the soon to be reconstituted opposition pact, on the basis of uniting all those who are opposed to the BN ruling coalition.
Obviously they have not learnt from lessons of the past, on how having coalition partners that don’t see eye to eye at the policy level will not work.
And obviously they are still holding on to the hypocrisies of before, by playing this inclusive game even as they exclude those that they are wary of, like PSM, from their inclusive anti-BN alliance.
And more crucial to this is the fact that none of the parties are willing to come to a real compromise by deconstructing their partisan agendas and forming one real shared consensus.
Instead each party is going in as is and looking to make temporary compromises to their long term agenda, until such a time that it is no longer necessary.
For example how PAS stayed with Pakatan long enough to woo Umno to its hudud tango, before starting divorce proceedings.
While DAP, being averse to Islamic laws and governance as promoted by PAS, poised itself to benefit from the former Pakatan pact just long enough to build up its strength and then decouple itself from the grouping, by conveniently using PAS as scapegoat.
While PAS was responsible for the Pakatan destruction, DAP contributed just as much. While PKR is only looking to supplement itself with its two stronger partners.
As it is now PKR is still looking to play the middleman game hoping to benefit either way, while playing it safe and inviting everyone it can think of into Pakatan 2.0. This is done so the newcomers can help shore up the weaknesses PKR had helped cause in the first place, with its own infighting.
DAP is also maintaining its own selfish stand, in not being willing to negotiate and wanting only wholesale compliance to its own partisan policies.
This refusal to have a real shared platform is going to hamstring the new pact and will continue to be a thorn in its side, as time and time again issues will arise that will sabotage them from within.
