The New Straits Times reports that both the Malaysian Democratic Party and the Parti Sosialis Malaysia are considering joining the newborn Pakatan Rakyat coalition. Both these parties contested the 12th General Elections using the KeADILan ticket and gained their maiden electoral success.
I see this as a positive development as it promises to consolidate the political opposition to the Barisan Nasional. While I am not that naive to believe that the Pakatan Rakyat will be perfect, any concentration of power would generally be counterproductive. A viable and effective check and balance would still be the best bet for the Malaysian people. At this juncture in our history, this means the strengthening of the Pakatan Rakyat.
In Sarawak, we have seen moves by the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) to formalise her ties with the Pakatan Rakyat to the extent that there is even talk of the party dissolving and merging with another political party. A loose coalition did exist during the last Sarawak state elections between SNAP and KeADILan as Barisan Bersatu Sarawak and the formal entry of SNAP into the Pakatan Rakyat would be the next logical step.
Personally I am not sure if dissolution and merger would really be the best move. SNAP does have a legacy that it can be proud of and has seen significant victory in reorganising herself internally as can be seen by the recent reapproachment by Dr Patau Rubis with SNAP (see Dr. Patau's take on his blog). With tested Dayak community leaders like Nicholas Bawin now part of KeADILan, this would be the best opportunity for the Dayak community to close ranks behind one common front and break the curse of division that's been the community's bane for quite a while.
If the rivalry between KeADILan and DAP in the Borneo states can be resolved, there would also be a consolidation of the support of a significant portion of the ethnic Chinese community behind a united anti Barisan Nasional front. As I noted in a previous post, ethnic divisions while more muted in the Borneo states (albeit involving different ethnic groups in Sabah and Sarawak - less Erna thinks I'm lumping everyone in the same mould again), can be much more sharply defined.
The Barisan Nasional has been very adept at the divide and rule game and their hand can be seen in the fragmentation of Parti Bersatu Sabah in Sabah and both the Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak and Sarawak National Party in Sarawak. The end result was the dilution of the political cohesion of the Kadazan Murut and Dayak communities in the respective states as well as the Chinese communities in both states. It also saw the entry of Umno into Sabah (and the subsequent demise of the United Sabah National Organisation or USNO which was theoretically a multi ethnic political party) and the growing hegemony of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (which is also technically a multi ethnic organisation) with surreptitious forays into Sarawak by Umno.
Malaysiakini published a good analysis of the electoral dynamics in East Malaysia.
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Categories: 12th General Elections
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Comments (1)
Steve F. said:
East Malaysia... I'll never understand lah.
But unless PR can make inroads there, and with BN's hold on Johor/Pahang, very susah to win 30 more seats to form the Government.
As for MDP and PSM, I'm a bit ambivalent about them joining as component parties. It's hard not for them to be treated like PPP in BN circa 2004.
Posted on April 3, 2008 5:03 PM