October 22, 2014
Pakatan Rakyat needs to Total Revamp
by T K Chua@www.freemalaysiatoday.com
Pakatan Rakyat: Partnership of Equals
DAP’s Lim Kit Siang may have fallen short of his usual astute discernment when he recently warned Pakatan Rakyat(PR) against complacency and called on the coalition to renew its commitment to the Common Policy Framework and Operational Principle of Consensus.
PR needs a total revamp and a reboot, not just a refocusing or re-commitment if the coalition harbours the hope of governing Malaysia someday. The dichotomy within PR is just too wide and too irreconcilable.
The Common Policy Framework is just a Panadol, not a cure. It states what the coalition partners agree on, but it ignores or denies its disagreements. It is a matter of time before the disagreements simmering beneath the surface erupt into open fissures.
The common policy framework must override individual party policies. If it mandates parliamentary democracy, then we can’t have any party in the coalition still believing in a theocracy. If it says rule of law and secularism, then we can’t have a party within the coalition still insisting on hudud.
It may be time for all the coalition partners to do two things:
- They must subscribe to the common policy framework fully and unequivocally; and
- They must abandon all the policies and beliefs which are in conflict or contradict the common policy framework. If they can’t do these two, then it is better for each of the parties to be on its own fighting for its own cause and objectives.
PR’s Operational Principle of Consensus may sound reasonable but is impractical. Making decisions based on consensus is making decisions based on expediency or even hypocrisy. PR should be making decisions based on agreed principles and policies; otherwise there is nothing to prevent the coalition from having a “consensus” to make stupid decisions or to do stupid things.
Right now, each of the parties within the coalition is recruiting members or courting support from
among Malaysians based on its own core policies. So PAS has its Islamic state and hudud, PKR has its equality (with a little of ketuanan), and DAP has its democratic secularism. If they have recruited people and solicited support based on different objectives, how then is the coalition able to promote one common policy framework and one objective?
It is time for PR to be upfront with what it stands for, not what PAS, PKR or DAP individually stands for. Many have argued that getting rid of BN is already a sufficient reason for PR to exist despite its inability to forge a common stand. Well, the Selangor MB saga has shown that a common enemy is not enough. Once the coalition has attained power, component party’s policies and objectives would start to rear their ugly heads.
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
I agree with Chua. What can we expect from a coalition of convenience. 2008 was a flash in the pan thing. After the MB Selangor saga (2014), it is going to be tough for PR to make a strong comeback. PAS will not abandon its Islamic state and hudud agenda. PKR is a party in a chaotic state. Only DAP is a disciplined party with a clear agenda. I don’t see how they can come together again. Structurally, it is dysfunctional since it is leaderless and decisions are made by consensus. No one is calling the shots since Anwar is actually not a leader of PR. I welcome your comments.–Din Merican
“… If it mandates parliamentary democracy, then we can’t have any party in the coalition still believing in a theocracy….PR’s Operational Principle of Consensus may sound reasonable but is impractical….Once the coalition has attained power, component party’s policies and objectives would start to rear their ugly heads.”—@T K Chua@www.freemalaysiatoday.com.
The cold reality is that the PR loose grouping is a mere marriage of convenience. It was molded & shaped by Anwar’s political craftiness just to make him the PM of Malaysia. Anwar failed neither due for his lack of effort nor because of BN’s better counter-strategy but mainly because the marriage of convenience itself was doomed from the very beginning by seriously deep-rooted internal political & ideological disagreements especially so between the DAP & PAS. These disagreements can’t be papered over for too long.
No long-lasting solution will be found as long as the DAP & PAS remain in the group. The DAP can’t be expected to drop its ideology of secularism and neither can PAS be expected to be divorced from its Islamic theocratic ideology unless it changes its name & constitution and become an entirely a different party. In the last Selangor MB saga, we all witnessed PAS quarreling with the PKR as well. As a result, the voters have lost all confidence in the PR as it is currently structured. The voters are now fully aware of the reality that the PR component party’s policies and objectives would start to rear their ugly heads again even if they were voted into power. This possibility is not welcomed by the voters.
It looks like if the PR were to find any permanent solution for peaceful co-existence within the grouping, PAS has to be jettisoned with a clean break. However in doing so, the dream for a two-party system will be doomed for quite a prolonged time.
How about break up PAS and extract Pasma to be included in PR. Then draw the line in the sand for supporting separation of state and religion institutions. Pasma is allowed and encouraged to pursue principles consistent with Islamic teaching, but is strictly prohibited to invoke God or religion symbolic names (such as Hudud and Sharia and Allah’s name) in its political pursue of better society in accordance to Islamic principle. In other words, we also need limited government, which has defined scope outside our personal’s conscience.
Anwar is a reformer, and is probably the only one capable of reforming the PR to adopt one single most important thing for the entire country: institutionalizing separation of state and religion institutions inside PR and make the separation the choice for the voters in the future elections. The availability of this choice is a titanic move, and only the best of statesman and politicians can possibly make it happens. That would be Atartuk moment for Anwar. Anwar would be either the traitor or savior of Malays, as collectively decided by Malays.
It’s too late to close the barn doors, all them horses have bolted away, 1 guy doesn’t make a party, no matter how iconic he is, even the late great Nelson Mandela would agree with me, my 2 sens worth.