Response to William Leong’s “Seeds of Pakatan Harapan’s defeat being sown”
PAKATAN HARAPAN’S MEXICAN STANDOFF – WHO WILL BLINK FIRST?
This is a response to William Leong’s comment “Seeds of Pakatan Harapan’s defeat being sown” appearing in Malaysiakini & The Malay Mail
On May 7th, 2016, Adenan Satem’s BN Sarawak delivered a convincing win of 72 out of 82 state seats in Sarawak surpassing his own target of 70 seats. This result have left the leaders of Pakatan Harapan in West Malaysia clamouring for an explanation to rationalise their loss in Sarawak. While Sarawak largely boiled down to Team Adenan’s popularity, the infighting and disagreements between the national and local leaders of the Pakatan Harapan have resulted in direct contests of 6 state seats between DAP and PKR. As William Leong rightly points out, their actions will pave the way for the Pakatan Harapan component parties to go separate ways in the coming 14th General Election.
By the Selayang MP’s own admission, the Pakatan Harapan is NOT a coalition. They are but an electoral alliance, unable to contest under the banner of one party. This kind of short term arrangement ultimately led to the disagreement over fundamental key policies by the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat, culminating with DAP and PKR clashing against each other in 6 seats in Sarawak. Cooperation between component parties is key to winning elections in Malaysia where no one ethnic group can rule the country without the support of the others. Team Adenan is a representation of this where Tan Sri Adenan Satem united the 40 odd ethnic groups in Sarawak to form government by giving each group fair representation and a voice in government. That was the only choice for the voters because the opposition is fractured and had no clear leader.
The coming by-election in Sg. Besar and Kuala Kangsar will be the final nail in the proverbial coffin for this fractured electoral alliance. It will expose the weaknesses of the Pakatan Harapan in West Malaysia. The Chinese voters in these two constituencies like the voters of Sarawak, will be faced with Hobson’s choice. After the exclusion of PAS from the Pakatan Harapan and the formation of their splinter party Amanah, many questions have emerged. With both constituencies being contested by PAS in the last GE, who will DAP support in these by-elections? Will Amanah finally contest in Kuala Kangsar as announced by Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin? Who will PKR support and who will William Leong support? These are all pertinent questions the voters and all Malaysians should be asking the Pakatan Harapan.
DAP Perak has already begun negotiating with PAS asking Hadi to choose either seat. Tony Pua in Selangor is too afraid to uttter a word because he is worried it might upset the delicate balance of the Selangor state government. Selangor is precariously close to collapse after DAP chose to part ways with PAS. One wrong word out of Tony Pua will mean the collapse of the Selangor government. Only their thirst for power and pure hypocrisy is keeping the state together. Where Amanah stands in all this is anybody’s guess.
Sg. Besar is a 31% Chinese seat and roughly 10,000 Chinese there voted for PAS in the last general election at the behest of DAP. Even with that, PAS still lost with a narrow margin. After the Hudud fiasco, can we still expect DAP to campaign for PAS? If Amanah does not contest, then what is its role in the Pakatan Harapan? With Azmin Ali making a call to PAS to rejoin Pakatan Harapan to face these by-elections, can William Leong and his PKR leaders like Tian Chua, Tan Kee Kwong and Elizabeth Wong take that same stance?
Consociationalism is alive and kicking in the opposition. The BN model was to be replaced by the Pakatan Harapan model with DAP at the reins. Being in PKR, William Leong brings up the ugly head of covetousness when he and his Chinese leaders in PKR are faced with the reality that, on top of being silent and ineffective MPs, will also never get to be Ministers even if Pakatan Harapan wins Putrajaya because DAP will quickly usurp those positions. The minority races being marginalised is not a product of consociation but by the same democratic process that saw MCA’s voice plummet to 7 MPs and DAP’s rise to 38 MPs. This is the democratic process that we have accepted in Malaysia and if William Leong can call this a failure, then he is condemning the very democratic process that elected him into office.
Centripetalism is but a dream for PKR. Even the majority of his party’s grassroots do not accept that ideology. In the sham of the PKR party election in 2014, non-Malay candidates that were nominated for leadership positions in PKR were booted out by the opposing Malay groups. In DAP, it is even worse because no Malay can get elected into their CEC and those there had to be appointed to make DAP resemble a multi-racial party. At least PKR has that one lonesome Tian Chua elected into its central committee. This only proves that centripetalism will not yet work in Malaysia. The electorate do not have the required charateristics to be driven entirely by issues instead of religion or ethnicity. Instead, the electorate chose consociationalism which allows the sharing of power by way of voting representatives from different ethnicity into government.
Furthermore, all three component parties in the Pakatan Rakyat had different ideas and policies to rule the federal government. That was why PAS left the coalition as they have always wanted to form an Islamic state like in Kelantan. DAP is authoritarian in Penang, unilaterally booting out PKR and PAS
Unless William leong and PKR are proposing a change in the electoral system, they should not waste time by pretending to be political scientists but focusing on the more pressing issues on the ground. He owes it to his voters to look after his own constituency first. Issues like providing service centres in Kuang, Rawang and Taman Templer or managing the influx of foreign workers in the Selayang market. Fulfilling his election pledge of giving aid to the elderly in Selayang. If William Leong cannot manage these local issues in Selayang or stop the political bickering by the Pakatan Harapan in his home state of Selangor, perhaps then he should start to think about pursuing an academic career in the political sciences.
The Pakatan Harapan is terminally ill after Sarawak. It’s leadership is bickering and its getting louder. Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has announced PAS’ candidacy in both the Sg Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections. What will Pakatan Harapan do? The first party to blink will be the first casualty. It will implode come nomination day on June 5th realising William Leong’s prophecy that the individual component parties will go their separate ways for the 14th General Election.
Choo Wei Sern (Eric)
MCA Youth Young Professionals Bureau Chairman
&
Kong Len Wei
MCA Youth Perak Young Professionals Bureau Chief
