PAS' new model for Pakatan infeasible
Terence NettoPublished: Nov 27, 2014 5:00 AM | Updated: Nov 27, 2014 6:16 AM
COMMENT Credit PAS vice-president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man for proposing a new model for intra-coalition cooperation in Pakatan Rakyat.
COMMENT Credit PAS vice-president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man for proposing a new model for intra-coalition cooperation in Pakatan Rakyat.
It shows he is interested to see the coalition sticking together despite the feuds and follies of its recent past, a phase that had the coalition’s supporters wringing their hands in frustration while its detractors were pumping theirs in glee.
Tuan Ibrahim is from his party’s ulama wing so that if he is keen on keeping the coalition intact, as reflected in his proposed new model of cooperation, then it could be said that the forces within the Islamist party for withdrawal from Pakatan are outweighed by those for sticking on.
But the model the PAS veep has proposed simply won’t work; it is a recipe for dissonant policies and practices.
Tuan Ibrahim has suggested a model of cooperation that is no more than an electoral pact, useful for preventing multi-cornered fights with the Barisan Nasional in a general election, but not conducive to the purpose of encouraging voters to prefer the coalition as an alternative government to BN.
The PAS cleric wants a model of cooperation that allows each state governed by the coalition enough latitude to pursue policies of their choice sans interference from allies.
This is a step backwards from what has been achieved thus far by Pakatan.
The opposition has fought two general elections (GE) in succession as a combined force not only on seat sharing, as was the emphasis in GE12, but also on policy, as was the case in GE13.
Consensus on policy was achieved through the common policy framework (CPF)
The opposition coalition had moved from being smart on how to maximise on gaining seats, as was the case in GE12, to how to be savvy at selling their policies, as was the case in GE13 when the CPF was flaunted as their agenda for political and economic reform.
Intra-coalition dissensions began only after the Kelantan chapter of PAS began shortly after the general election last year to signal its desire to implement hudud.
Coalition partner DAP maintained a steady stand of discouragement while the third party in the tripartite grouping, PKR, tried to tell PAS that it was breaking ranks.
In fact, the non-Muslim politicians in PKR were only slightly less assertive than their DAP counterparts in discouraging PAS from going ahead with their desire to implement hudud in Kelantan.
Provoking ‘disgust’ and ‘dismay’
To sum the attitude of its allies in Pakatan, PAS found that their move to have hudud had provoked disgust in DAP and dismay in PKR.
When certain quarters in Umno, particularly in the Kelantan wing of the ruling party, were seen to be encouraging PAS to go ahead with hudud, disgust in DAP turned to revulsion and dismay in PKR metamorphosed into aversion at what was seen as failure in PAS to be wary of an attempt to split the coalition.
Matters became more complicated and dire from the beginning of 2014 when a PKR move to remove their menteri besar of Selangor, Khalid Ibrahim, and replace him with party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was initially opposed by PAS.
An eight-month long turbulence in the coalition - when the hopes of Pakatan staying intact as an opposition grouping were all but lost - receded only with the appointment of PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali as MB in September.
Before the tumult abated, Pakatan appeared like a rudderless ship tossed hither and yon like cargo come loose in the hold of a freighter.
During this stormy period, PKR was myopic in insisting on Wan Azizah as replacement for Khalid as MB, just as Kelantan PAS was remiss in insisting on hudud in Kelantan.
It was Azmin’s swift recovery - via a series of kinetic steps as the new MB - of the initiative for Pakatan as a credible alternative to BN that enabled the opposition coalition’s supporters to regain confidence that Pakatan is a greater proposition than the sum of its periodically fissiparous parts.
Azmin has been two-and-half months in the saddle, during which time he has adopted an inclusive and consultative module of intra-coalition collaboration.
If it can be described, it is that one should not do anything that one partner is flatly opposed to and prioritise what all three allies readily agree on.
It is a module preferable to the one proposed by Tuan Ibrahim.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for more than four decades. A sobering discovery has been that those who protest the loudest tend to replicate the faults they revile in others.
It shows he is interested to see the coalition sticking together despite the feuds and follies of its recent past, a phase that had the coalition’s supporters wringing their hands in frustration while its detractors were pumping theirs in glee.
Tuan Ibrahim is from his party’s ulama wing so that if he is keen on keeping the coalition intact, as reflected in his proposed new model of cooperation, then it could be said that the forces within the Islamist party for withdrawal from Pakatan are outweighed by those for sticking on.
But the model the PAS veep has proposed simply won’t work; it is a recipe for dissonant policies and practices.
Tuan Ibrahim has suggested a model of cooperation that is no more than an electoral pact, useful for preventing multi-cornered fights with the Barisan Nasional in a general election, but not conducive to the purpose of encouraging voters to prefer the coalition as an alternative government to BN.The PAS cleric wants a model of cooperation that allows each state governed by the coalition enough latitude to pursue policies of their choice sans interference from allies.
This is a step backwards from what has been achieved thus far by Pakatan.
The opposition has fought two general elections (GE) in succession as a combined force not only on seat sharing, as was the emphasis in GE12, but also on policy, as was the case in GE13.
Consensus on policy was achieved through the common policy framework (CPF)
The opposition coalition had moved from being smart on how to maximise on gaining seats, as was the case in GE12, to how to be savvy at selling their policies, as was the case in GE13 when the CPF was flaunted as their agenda for political and economic reform.
Intra-coalition dissensions began only after the Kelantan chapter of PAS began shortly after the general election last year to signal its desire to implement hudud.
Coalition partner DAP maintained a steady stand of discouragement while the third party in the tripartite grouping, PKR, tried to tell PAS that it was breaking ranks.
In fact, the non-Muslim politicians in PKR were only slightly less assertive than their DAP counterparts in discouraging PAS from going ahead with their desire to implement hudud in Kelantan.
Provoking ‘disgust’ and ‘dismay’
To sum the attitude of its allies in Pakatan, PAS found that their move to have hudud had provoked disgust in DAP and dismay in PKR.
When certain quarters in Umno, particularly in the Kelantan wing of the ruling party, were seen to be encouraging PAS to go ahead with hudud, disgust in DAP turned to revulsion and dismay in PKR metamorphosed into aversion at what was seen as failure in PAS to be wary of an attempt to split the coalition.
Matters became more complicated and dire from the beginning of 2014 when a PKR move to remove their menteri besar of Selangor, Khalid Ibrahim, and replace him with party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was initially opposed by PAS.An eight-month long turbulence in the coalition - when the hopes of Pakatan staying intact as an opposition grouping were all but lost - receded only with the appointment of PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali as MB in September.
Before the tumult abated, Pakatan appeared like a rudderless ship tossed hither and yon like cargo come loose in the hold of a freighter.
During this stormy period, PKR was myopic in insisting on Wan Azizah as replacement for Khalid as MB, just as Kelantan PAS was remiss in insisting on hudud in Kelantan.
It was Azmin’s swift recovery - via a series of kinetic steps as the new MB - of the initiative for Pakatan as a credible alternative to BN that enabled the opposition coalition’s supporters to regain confidence that Pakatan is a greater proposition than the sum of its periodically fissiparous parts.
Azmin has been two-and-half months in the saddle, during which time he has adopted an inclusive and consultative module of intra-coalition collaboration.
If it can be described, it is that one should not do anything that one partner is flatly opposed to and prioritise what all three allies readily agree on.
It is a module preferable to the one proposed by Tuan Ibrahim.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for more than four decades. A sobering discovery has been that those who protest the loudest tend to replicate the faults they revile in others.
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