Still pushing for snap polls

The lack of consensus over whether Penang should go for an early state election has caused a deep rift in Pakatan Harapan with DAP and PKR leaders sniping at each other.

Joceline Tan, The Star

TWO weeks have gone by since breaking news of a snap election in Penang.

Penangites are not any closer to the big day and it is anybody’s guess whether there will be an early election at all.

The DAP side is still gung ho about it and the statements coming from their leaders seem to suggest that they have not given up on seeking a new mandate.

On Monday evening, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was in top form when he spoke to a packed forum in Penang. There have been a lot of critical voices on the snap polls, but it was evident that the majority of the crowd that night was for the idea and Lim’s animated speech was interrupted by applause from start to end.

Anyone else under the kind of pressure he is facing would have crumpled by now but there was no hint at all that his career is on the line. He was brimming with confidence and showed that he was very much in charge. It is little wonder that his supporters believe that come what may, Lim will succeed in getting a snap election in Penang.

Moreover, an online survey by a Chinese vernacular newspaper that is widely-read in Penang had shown an overwhelming number of its readers voting for the polls.

Those who turned up for the forum thought the DAP secretary-general would be making the much-awaited announcement but the decision on the polls was still up in the air. Lim, at that point in time, was still waiting for PKR’s support.

But PKR is still reluctant and yet to be convinced. It is learnt that the party’s supreme council which met till late Tuesday night was quite unanimous in opposing the polls although the brief press statement that president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail read out to the press was cushioned in diplomatic language to soften the blow.

The snap polls are a clear and present danger to PKR. At least four of the party’s seats in Penang could fall if polls are held now.

The seats are said to be Batu Maung, Sungai Bakap, Penanti and Seberang Jaya. These are Malay-majority seats that were won by 2,000 to 3,000 votes.

Even the sole PAS seat in Permatang Pasir is in danger because the Malay vote in the former PAS stronghold is now split three-ways between PAS, Amanah and Umno.

A deep crack is forming in Pakatan Harapan.

The reality of PKR’s stand has yet to fully permeate to the ground and things will not be pretty when that happens. But vocal personalities at the top have already opened fire and accusations have flown back and forth.

Emotions have been high on the DAP end and there is a sense of being played out by their partner.

The snap election has become a do-or-die kind of thing for DAP. Their top leader is under siege, they are circling the wagon and they feel that a snap polls is the way to go.

One DAP state exco member was so worked up that he fired off a press statement, insisting that Lim had not done anything wrong. He declared that if Lim had made a mistake, the Penang DAP leaders were prepared to take collective responsibility and resign their seats so that the state assembly could be dissolved for the people to choose again.

Hours after it was published in a Penang-based Chinese newspaper, the politician issued another statement to retract what he said.

Apparently, he did not understand that under the election law, anyone resigning from his or her seat would be barred from contesting for the next five years. He failed in terms of law but he passed the loyalty test with flying colours.

But nothing has captured the fallout between the two parties like the testy exchange between Selangor DAP chairman Tony Pua and PKR lawyer Latheefa Koya.

The gloves came off, with Pua, who is Selangor DAP chairman, criticising PKR for leaving his party marooned and “completely naked” in its time of need. In short, he was saying that with friends like these, DAP did not need enemies.

Latheefa fired back, reminding DAP of the “unilateral decisions” it had made in the past such as declaring the death of Pakatan Rakyat. She also derided DAP for its ever-changing reasons for the snap polls.

“Perhaps, you should all make up your mind first, then consult with us and convince us,” she said.

PKR feels that DAP is being selfish in dragging them into a “suicide election” where PKR may end up worse than before.

Some PKR leaders have described the proposed polls as Kajang Move 2.0, further infuriating the DAP side who say that the Kajang Move was a unilateral decision which DAP did not agree with but supported anyway.

The Kajang Move damaged the coalition where public opinion was concerned and the impact of a snap state election could be many times more.

Penang is not Las Vegas where what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Public opinion has been mixed and the backlash of a snap polls will ripple beyond Penang.

PKR has been accused of sabotage and of leaking DAP’s snap election move to the media. The thing is, hot news like this cannot be kept under wraps, it will get out sooner rather than later and it is all too convenient to shoot the messenger.

Constitutionally speaking, DAP and its partners have every right to call for an early state election.

The move is quite a brilliant strategy to maintain the hold that DAP and Lim have over Penang while the going is still good. But its execution lacked finesse and depth of thinking. The fatal mistake was taking PKR for granted.

This was the reason why Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had, on the eve of the 2008 general election, pushed hard for a seat distribution where no single party would have hegemony or be able to form a government on its own.

That is what a coalition of equals ought to be. Anwar’s masterstroke has enabled his party to have a big say on the snap election even though PKR has less seats than DAP.

Dr Wan Azizah and her deputy Datuk Seri Azmin Ali have not always seen eye-to-eye on issues but they are on the same page on this.

The Selangor Mentri Besar’s calm and courteous exterior can be misleading because the man knows how to play hardball behind the scenes. The old-fashioned description would be that Azmin speaks softly and carries a big stick.

Apart from the potential loss of PKR seats in Penang, Azmin also needs to safeguard his administration of strange bedfellows in Selangor.

The Penang election would result in PAS contesting against PKR and Azmin is concerned about how that will affect his state government.

Amanah ought to be relieved if the election does not happen because it has to contest the Malay seats and is likely to suffer losses that will render it a lame duck ahead of the general election.

Dr Wan Azizah said a high-ranking delegation would explain the party’s stand to Lim but what is there left to talk about?

The opportune moment is fading, public opinion about the polls has not been as positive as DAP had hoped for and despite the soft words coming from Dr Wan Azizah, it is no-go for now.

The irony is that the Barisan Nasional side is as disappointed as DAP because this would have been a golden opportunity for the opposition coalition to get its foot back in the door.

Barisan assemblyman Farid Saad urged DAP to have an emergency assembly sitting to debate the election proposal. And who knows, the 10 Umno assemblymen might decide to support the idea, giving Lim the numbers to dissolve the assembly.

It is hard to see how relations between DAP and PKR will ever be the same again after this.

The DAP side feels quite bitter. DAP cannot wait too long because Lim’s date in court is approaching.

But Lim did manage to take a step back from politics last week when he led a delegation of DAP leaders to the wake of Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon’s late wife Puan Sri Chui Kah Peng.

Encounters between a sitting Chief Minister and an ex-Chief Minister are never not awkward but both men managed a warm handshake.

The body language between Dr Koh and senior state exco member Chow Kon Yeow was more natural. Chow, whose political career in Penang began at about the same time as that of Dr Koh, gave the latter a hug.

But the awkward moment passed and Lim seemed genuinely interested to hear about the former Penang first lady’s battle with cancer. He also had a lot to chat about with Dr Koh’s daughter who was interested in the Penang Festival.

“The conversation was about everything but politics,” said Gerakan politician Ivanpal S. Grewal.

The irony of the situation did not go unnoticed. Dr Koh lost the political fight of his life to Lim who, in turn, is now fighting for his political survival.