Opposition coalition's show of unity despite differences

Nearly two years after the Pakatan Rakyat drastically changed the political landscape along with controversies and infighting, today it seems to have come of age as it set out a common coalition platform.

At its inaugural convention in Shah Alam witnessed by 1,500 delegates from three opposition parties, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang reassured other Pakatan partners that his party can work together with them.

The Islamic party, which has been dogged by the controversy of the ‘PAS-Umno unity government' issue ever since March 8, 2008, pledged its loyalty to the coalition.

"Muslims commemorated the establishment of a plural society when Islam was the minority religion compared to the other religions, and this lasted until the 14th century.

"But this did not last long because Muslims stopped holding on to their teachings and principles," said Abdul Hadi, drawing a parallel with the Islam teachings within Umno.

"Thus, PAS hopes that our non-Muslims partners do not take seriously the example of Islam within Umno. With this, PAS will prove that we can pledge our allegiance and loyalty to Pakatan," he said.

In his colourful and high-spirited speech, Abdul Hadi also likened the Pakatan struggle against Barisan Nasional to a football match.

"For Pakatan, we have less chance at goal while they (BN) have more. We play with only one foot, they play with both feet.

"And the referee (the authorities) is often is on their side, sometimes the referee even scores a goal for them," said the PAS president, drawing laughter from the audience.

Compromise in policy

Despite that the common coalition platform which is unveiled today not tailored to the satisfaction of all component parties, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng was confident that it managed to embrace "each of our struggles".

Explaining this, the Penang chief minister cited the example of local government elections that the party has been calling for, but not specified as such in the common policy.

Nevertheless, he said Pakatan leaders managed to strike consensus on the issue.

The coalition has instead adopted "local government democracy" as a substitute for local government polls in its common platform.

"Such a compromise is a good sign for all of us because this is an indication that the Pakatan can pull together after discussion and consultation," he said.

It is learnt that some parties, particularly PAS, are worried about the adminstrative problems caused by local government polls.

Lim, who is representing DAP, described the common policy platform as "historic" because this has been agreed upon by all three component parties.

"It is the most important document because it contains the joint policies of our struggles. That is why we cannot come out with a platform that would satisfy everybody," he said.

Pakatan 'a political movement'

Earlier, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said that Pakatan was not "merely a political party, but first and foremost a political movement.

"The struggle that we bring does not belong to political parties alone.

"The changes and reform agenda that we carry along also belong to the people, NGOs, bloggers, thinkers, poets and artists," said the PKR de facto leader.

According to him, Pakatan is now at the crossroads with having already gained the people's trust.

"We are not fighting merely to replace one power with another power. We do not strive to change small things.

"We strive to make a big change and be a fundamental changer... so we must have the courage of truth, the confidence in the spirit of the people and the faith in the power of the people's spirit," said Anwar.

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