COMMENT When PAS and DAP decided to forge an alliance, many wondered how these two parties with diametrically opposed ideologies would be able to reach a consensus.

 

The argument back then was that the two parties had decided to set aside their differences to vanquish a mutual adversary in the form of BN.

 

Both PAS and DAP leaders argued that the ruling coalition’s alleged rampant corruption and abuse of power must be curbed, and that, to them, was the most important battle.

 

However, it was a fragile pact. PAS’ theocratic ambition, time and again, threatens to derail the opposition bloc’s ambition of seizing federal power.

 

In 2001, the loose partnership of Barisan Alternatif fell apart when DAP and PAS locked horns over the Islamic state.

 

And now the same issue has resurfaced with PAS pushing for the implementation of hudud in Kelantan.

 

Among the speculations circulating around, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s protracted silence on the matter is that he is waiting for the opposition to implode.

 

And true enough, Pakatan is asphyxiating.

 

IGP steals the thunder

 

However, inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar seems adamant to steal the thunder, and giving fresh reason for the opposition to rally around another common cause.

 

The spate of arrests - over 120 and counting - involving lawmakers, civil society leaders, activists and news portal editors has led to Pakatan lawmakers,  be they from PKR, DAP and PAS, coming together to voice their objection.

 

The perceived double standard of the police in dealing with ruling politicians and their opposition counterparts is rousing anger among the electorate.

 

This may also provide fodder for PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s rivals within his party as to whether they would want to join hands with Umno in voting for the hudud bill when the regime’s actions are seen to be antithetical to the principles of justice, albeit divine or secular.

 

Given this development, the question is whether the police chief, who is adamant in establishing a “sedition-free” Malaysia both in the real and virtual worlds, would frustrate Najib’s plan to witness the decimation of the opposition and put at risk BN’s position in the next general election?

The Zahid factor

 

There is also another take making the rounds - that after his Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) letter imbroglio, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi could be desperate to please the hardliners in Umno and hence the crackdown.

 

Riding high after emerging as the most popular Umno vice-president, Zahid’s credibility suffered a devastating blow when it was revealed that he had penned a letter vouching for an alleged Malaysian gambling tycoon facing legal proceedings in the United States.

 

Though vehemently denying any wrongdoing or having taken a single cent from the alleged underworld kingpin, the minister however conceded that the issue had been damaging to him.

 

Some are wondering if the arrest and detention of TMI’s top executives was an attempt to win over Najib, given that the news portal and its parent company The Edge Media Group, have been publishing damning articles on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

 

Zahid, however, was quick to distance himself, stressing that he was not directly involved in the police’s operational matters.

 

But political analyst Shahbudin Husin begged to differ.

 

He pondered if Zahid, who was once a close ally of Anwar Ibrahim, felt compelled to prove to Umno that he no longer has any ties with the opposition leader, and hence ordered the police to come down hard on protesters calling for his release from prison.

 

Whatever the reason behind the new ‘zero tolerance’ policy, the opposition has been given a brief respite at the expense of the ruling coalition.