Pakatan's bumpy path to a formal coalition

By Shuhada Elis

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Rakyat is not up to establishing a formal coalition as it is still struggling to find a common platform, say political analysts.

Professor Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said many things had yet to be settled between the three parties in the coalition.

"Forming a coalition for the purpose of creating a two-party system in Malaysia needs major compromise within Pakatan. As this is a new idea, many things have to be settled.

"This was not done in spite of the sloganeering in the recent Pakatan jamboree in Shah Alam. Morever, (Pas president) Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang's statement reflects this uncertainty," he told the New Straits Times.

The Pakatan coalition, comprising Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Pas and DAP, held its first convention on Saturday at which a common policy framework was said to have been tabled.

Despite the one-day "unity" show, Hadi said on Sunday the time was not right for the alliance to be formally registered as it still had ideological differences.

He was also quoted as saying that it was important for the three parties to first work on a common ground and "talk of other things later".

His statement raised the alarm in the coalition and forced Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to defend Hadi, saying that the latter might have been misunderstood.

In a damage control attempt, Hadi made a short statement in the Harakah yesterday that Pakatan, which was formed based on the agreement of the three parties, could not be formalised as it was under consideration by the Registrar of Societies.

Shamsul said while Pas had suspended its objectives of forming an Islamic state and the "hudud" for the sake of giving Pakatan a common front, DAP had not thrown away its "Malaysian Malaysia" ideology.

"So things are not settled in Pakatan. The recent development seems to indicate that Anwar is the only person who wants the coalition to be formed quickly."

He added that Pakatan had no ideology but "a cocktail of potent deep-seated conservatism", with a mixture of ethnic-based (DAP), religion-based (Pas) and chameleon-style (PKR) politics that have yet to find a common platform".

Associate Prof Dr Ahmad Nidzammuddin Sulaiman of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia said Hadi was more inclined towards the idea of forming a unity government with Umno.

"But because Pas could not accept the idea, Hadi had to follow the direction the party wanted, although with a heavy heart."

Universiti Sains Malaysia Assoc Prof Dr P. Sivamurugan said Hadi was trying to convince Pakatan supporters that they were working on a common agenda but at the same time, he was struggling to retain Pas' agenda.

"Pakatan will face problems if they do not find an agreement on sacrificing each party's ideology for the sake of a common agenda.

"But I think Pas is afraid that it may lose traditional supporters if it defers its own agenda," he said, adding that Pas would seem irrelevant without its Islamic ideology.

He also said it was difficult for the three parties to become one entity unless they truly adopted their common policy framework.

source : nst