COMMENT Pakatan Rakyat has ceased to exist. The outcome of PAS' motion to sever ties with DAP in its recent muktamar.

The announcement of DAP yesterday of the non-existence of Pakatan is the outcome of serious political conflict with PAS, not just over hudud but over its non-adherence to a common policy framework.

However, ties with PKR will continue as  before and the prospect of developing ties with progressive forces have emerged as a viable option.

The more important question for DAP is how to work out the various political modalities at the ground level arising from this rupture in relations with PAS.

What will happen in Selangor?

Although I don't see DAP pulling out of the coalition and the state government in Selangor, at least in the near future, the very fact that Pakatan has ceased to exist has opened new political possibilities.

In the days, weeks and months ahead, I expect DAP to have some serious discussions with PKR to determine how cooperation with other progressive forces can be translated into the formation of a new coalition entity.

For PAS, forcing the option of severing ties with DAP in the absence of any debate was a deliberate act that destroyed whatever goodwill that existed before.

Now, the party’s professionals are purged and isolated. What the future political moves of this small but articulate group will be remain to be seen.

A core element for DAP to consider

If I am not mistaken, they will constitute a core element of the progressive forces that DAP will consider in forming a new political entity.

Selangor and Perak will be states that DAP will focus its attention on to get the new political formation off the ground.

Selangor remains crucial, but extremely complicated given the division in the more or  less equal distribution of electoral seats between PKR, DAP, PAS and Umno.

Perhaps a time has come for both PKR and DAP to take note of the Hobbesian nature of politics in Selangor and find out a way out of the present imbroglio.

In Penang, given the two-thirds majority enjoyed by DAP and PKR, a political mess arising from the split with PAS can be avoided.

The progressive group in PAS appears willing to give a hand to DAP and PKR to move forward to chart a new political future.

However, with DAP helming the state government of Penang, the ulama group of PAS might not have the clout it enjoys in Selangor. The Penang chief minister's call for the members of the ulama group to quit their posts in the state government stands.

After more than 58 years of rule, BN remains a weak coalition. Umno, the dominant component party in BN, remains as one of the most shattered and ruined political parties in Malaysia.

Disappointment to people’s expectations

Ironically, the expectations of Malaysians for Pakatan to take charge of Putrajaya in the next general election have become thoroughly disappointing.

This all the more reason why a new realignment of political forces, with the ultimate objective of replacing the BN, should be the top-most agenda!

PAS has been a miserable failure in grasping the realities of Malaysian politics. Its extreme sectarianism is mainly responsible for the collapse of Pakatan as political coalition.

More importantly, the sectarianism of PAS is causing irreparable damage to the Malay Muslim society.

Yes, Pakatan has collapsed. The responsibility must be fully borne by PAS. DAP cannot merely lament on the 'glorious" past of Pakatan.

Both DAP and PKR must take up new political challenges to push Malaysia forward, along a progressive and democratic path. A new and untainted political coalition with other  political forces is very necessary and timely.

For DAP and PKR, politics should be the “art of possible”. The absence of this conception will mean the return to the “jungle world”, as predicted by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan.

In other words, we need a “new Leviathan”!

P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the assemblyperson for Perai.