Malaysia GE – Coalition of Convenience

The recent GE has propelled an unlikely and incompatible coalition, the Pakatan Rakyat, into a serious contender to form the next govt in Malaysia. If the accusation, not proven, is anything to go by, PR could have won the election and Anwar could have been the PM. When PR was formed, it was the most difficult alliance of mismatch political parties that were unlikely to see eye to eye because of their poles apart ideology and political goals. The DAP is a strongly non Malay party that was seen as promoting non Malay interest. PAS was seen as a fundamentalist Islamic party that wanted an Islamic Malaysia with Islamic Laws that are feared by the non Muslims if imposed on them. Parti Keadilan Rakyat was a brand new creation, led by a controversial leader in Anwar that was just released from prison and still facing many criminal charges.

The rise and rise of PR as a serious political coalition to take on UMNO and BN is a big gamble with very few chips. The stature of PR today is a far cry from its early years marred by a host of intractable problems between its three constituent parties. Many issues have been ironed our with the good grace of the three leaders and with a lot of give and take. An inconvenient coalition is now a workable model.

There must be a lot of compromises, a lot of negotiation and a lot of convincing by the leaders to take their supporters along this journey. And there must be a lot of trust and faith that the parties will play along agreed ground rules. The three parties are must closer and as equal partners than the BN coalition when UMNO was just bullying the other parties and hammering to shape to get along. BN is a case of square peg in round hole and all kinds of pegs hammered into a hole decided by UMNO. It was in reality a very unequal and inconvenient coalition compares to PR when all the parties negotiated their terms on an equal basis.

Anwar was clearly instrumental to the rise of PR. No other politician in Malaysia today can hold this coalition together, let alone bringing them to the negotiating table. Leadership is one of the main factor in PR. Anwar is a natural leader, acceptable by all three parties and their supporters. But more importantly is the push factor in UMNO.

UMNO over the years have alienated the people of Malaysia of all races through their self serving policies and racial policies. The non Malay parties were bullied to irrelevance and their credibility to their supporters became a big question mark. None of the non Malay party could tell their supporters that they were representing them. They were just passengers in a coalition where they hardly have any say.

The Malay base of UMNO was also eroded as the masses were not getting the benefits they deserved, only to see the rich politicians getting richer by means that they deemed uncomfortable and unacceptable. It is an elitist party, with nepotism and cronyism being practiced blatantly for selfish interests of the elite. The accusation of corruption is getting more sympathetic ears and the Malay supporters are deserting the party in hordes. Many of the middle leaders too are disillusion and some have switched camps and others are seriously thinking about it.

UMNO has worked itself out of favour among the Malay voters and arrogantly thinking that it could abuse their trust and support by giving lip services to their unhappiness. It is no longer the same party that it used to be. It is no longer for the people but for themselves, the leaders.

The PR coalition of convenience could only come about by the self destructing policies and acts of UMNO. There was a genuine need for a change and PR fill the hole neatly. They is an uprising among the Malaysians of all races, a revolt of kind, against a govt that is no longer trusted and respected.

The political landscape in Malaysia is a mirror image of what is happening in Singapore. But the opposition in Singapore is still not ready. There is no Anwar, a natural leader that could command the respect and acceptance by the opposition camp. And there are no leaders willing to put their party interests aside to come together for a coalition of convenience to stage a serious challenge to the PAP. Until such a development takes place, the opposition in Singapore is unlikely to put up a real alternative to the PAP, to replace it in the next GE.

There is no need for all the opposition parties to come under one umbrella. All it needs is three or so component parties to work together and that should be a sizable force to be reckoned with. Other than this, unless there is a little miracle, or the PAP did itself in by creating more unhappiness that are so unacceptable to the people that more concerned Singaporeans are willing to step forward to enter the political arena to boost up the strength of the WP or another major party, big enough to pose as an alternative party in waiting.

If a coalition is difficult, the relatively smaller political landscape could actually be circumvent if a strong party could garner enough new candidates to be field in the next GE, to mount a major assault on a declining and ageing party that is losing its grips of power and support of the people.

Would there be a coalition of convenience in 2016 or would there be a single party that is strong enough to take on the PAP? There is still time, 3 years to make this happen. PAP could help too, by continuing on its path and policies that are no longer acceptable and agreeable by the people.