Azmin Ali Wants Opposition Solid Bloc; PAS and Umno Cooperation Might Fulfill His Wish!
The Malaysian Observer
Fresh off of the bludgeoning Pakatan Harapan had taken following the twin by-elections; Selangor Menteri Dato’ Seri Azmin Ali suggested that the Opposition should form a solid bloc! (here)
This is something that many believe should had taken place some time ago, but not in the manner that the Selangor Menteri Besar meant it! What many have been eagerly awaiting for is a solid bloc formed with PAS and BN! After all, that bloc is in Opposition to Pakatan Harapan!
Why should Pakatan Harapan (DAP, PKR, Amanah et al) believe that it is BN on one side of the equation and all the other parties on the other side! With Amanah being the exception; the DAP and Pakatan Harapan do not own exclusive rights over parties which are not joined together with Barisan Nasional!
The only reason there are fresh overtures to PAS now is because the Amanah project is just not bringing the ROI that the DAP was banking on! Perhaps they (DAP) believed that just by bankrolling Amanah, telling which issues to not comment on and dressing them in orange, then that would be good enough to translate into votes.
What the DAP is waking up to is that their investment, while making Amanah as happy as a duck in a pond, is not appreciated by the people who still view the DAP as the puppeteer and Amanah as their puppet! Even though a puppet show might be good for a few laughs; the people don’t want puppets or their master governing their lives!
In backing their pet (Amanah) project, the DAP arrogantly believed that they could garner the same PAS votes which they had before Amanah split from PAS. Realizing that that will not take place; the DAP is now quietly hoping that the Selangor Menteri Besar Dato’ Azmin Ali, Datuk Anwar Ibrahim or anyone for that matter can cajole PAS back into the fold!
In order to save face, the DAP cannot directly reach out to PAS; they require a third party to mend bridges so that they can return to the days of agree to disagree!
However PAS has not been sleep over the past few months and clearly understand Pakatan Harapan’s latest overtures towards them (PAS) is based on the loses that were sustained in Sarawak and in the Kuala Kangsar, Sungai Besar By-elections! Pakatan Harapan would like nothing better than create some sort of animosity between BN (Umno) and PAS!
What the DAP and the rest of Pakatan Harapan do not realize is that Umno and PAS are not enemies. In fact, on many substantive issues there is more commonality than many in Pakatan Harapan realize. As a result of such commonality it is perfectly natural for those with positive interest to work together for the good of the nation!
