In Malaysia, the ruling BN is threatened today, as it has never been before. It is threatened by Pakatan Rakyat, composed of, in the main, by PKR, PAS and DAP.
Yet, BN fears neither DAP nor PAS on their own. They have beaten them in election after election. Most of all, BN fears PKR. For PKR has a multi-racial agenda, reflected in its membership, which appeals to the young and the thinking. And with its rise, has managed to unite those dissimilar parties, PAS and DAP, in common cause. Together they gave the BN, by Malaysian election standards, a humiliating thrashing in 2008.
Which victory, for those of us who hope to see a two party State in our lifetime, we hope to see them extend in the coming 2011 General Election.
So we are surprised when we see those whom we would consider natural allies in the journey towards a two-party State, turn around and criticise PKR. Too often, too often unfairly and sometimes in the BN-controlled mainstream media.
We are, of course, talking about MCLM.
MCLM has, of late, been castigating PKR for having too many 'frogs' in their ranks.
Instead of accepting this as the growing pains of a young party which had an insufficient choice of candidates in the last election.
Fine, they have the right to criticise.
They have chosen to do this in public, in all manners of media.
Not so fine.
They then offer to evaluate PKR reps.
To determine whether they have 'froggish' tendencies. To check whether they are doing a good job.
Instead of leaving it to PKR and the people to determine.
How terribly pompous!
To offer to 'evaluate' elected reps when you yourself are unelected. And hold no brief from anybody but yourselves.We were still going to give MCLM the benefit of the doubt. Their intentions, we hoped, might be good, even though expressed in a clumsy, awkward, public way.
But then they announce a strange alliance. It is described as the MCLM-UBF-SNAP alliance.
How very contradictory. To admonish PKR for having had reps who jump parties, and then join in an alliance with UBF. Which is headed by Mr.Jeffrey Kitingan, who has changed so many parties, that we have really lost count. The last of which was PKR.
This is not an act of principle by MCLM. It is an act of political expedience.
They cannot now be censuring others, or go around conducting 'evaluations' and 'tests'. For if Mr.Jefferey Kitingan can get past their 'tests', so can everybody.
We must also question their choice of candidates.Who are, to put it bluntly, inexperienced, possibly naive and have shown no inclination to uncompromisingly stand up to BN in the past. Neither are we particularly enamoured of Mr.Harris Ibrahim or his ill-natured attack on PKR. (On, of all things, PKR's party elections. Which, well-run or not, makes them the most democratic party in Malaysia. As every member had the right to vote for every post. And, please, spare us the insinuations by the losers. We can clearly see BN's hand in some of those.)
Nor do we know how MCLM's candidates will fare when faced with the pressures that BN's schemings will put on them. Or how they will cope with being, perhaps, in jail, the inside of which, we believe, none of them have ever seen, including, as far as we are aware, Mr.Harris. It is an unavoidable risk for opposition politicians in Malaysia.
It would be so easy, then, like too many have done, to just turn 'independent'. All your problems will be instantly solved.
We fail to understand MCLM's strange alliance. There are now, effectively, two opposition alliances. SNAP is, confusingly, in both alliances.
Is MCLM, in some incredible delusion of grandeur, trying to replace Pakatan? Or are they just trying to supplant PKR?
Either attempt, if indeed the case, would be foolish and only impede the path to a two party state.
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