Pakatan’s marriage on the rocks

The Kedah DAP has dropped a bombshell on the Malaysian political stage by announcing that DAP had withdrawn from the Pakatan Rakyat state government in Kedah.

This is the latest open bickering between the three component parties of the Pakatan coalition, following the confusing controversy over unity talks with Umno – a proposal mooted by some top PAS leaders.

For a nation that is used to the united facade of Barisan Nasional, the constant verbal scuffle between member parties of the Pakatan coalition may give people the impression that they are indeed a union of undisciplined and strange bedfellows. They seem to love to wash their dirty linen in public.

What is obvious is that PKR, DAP, and PAS are still adjusting to the new reality of coalition politics after one year of experimentation. They have yet to realise fully that any political coalition of unlikely partners is a marriage of convenience. Like any real-life marriage, their political marriage requires them to learn the art of give-and-take.

These parties are just discovering that governing a state is a far more difficult proposition than shouting from the wilderness as opposition parties. Ideological differences are magnified many times when they now shoulder the responsibility of delivering on their election promises.

Their spate of public animosity in Kedah and elsewhere is also an indication that the three component parties of Pakatan have yet to work out an internal channel for rapid consultation between them to sort out the inevitable kinks that will plague any new political coalition in Malaysia.

Apparently, the internal struggle for dominance within the Pakatan coalition between DAP, PKR, and PAS is the root cause of the discord that propels many issues to surface in the media. Internal factionalism within each component party further erodes the basis for harmonious relation at many levels.

Pakatan’s national ambition could be at risk

The Kedah DAP decision came after the destruction of the only pig abattoir in Kampong Berjaya in Alor Star.

While Kedah DAP has emphasised that the issue is not about race or religion, the demolition of the abattoir may entrench the old prejudice among the Chinese that the PAS-led government is trying to ban the production and consumption of pork which is considered haram in Islam.

The Kedah DAP’s action is understandable because they must be accountable to their Chinese constituents in Kedah and elsewhere. Their withdrawal from the Kedah state coalition government is an ear-splitting voice of protest against the PAS-led government over an issue which could have been resolved by skillful administrative measures with the relocation of the abattoir to another suitable site.

The DAP has only one seat in the Kedah state legislature, in which PAS has 16, and PKR’s five, against 12 for Umno and one each for MCA and Gerakan.

So the DAP withdrawal will not cause the Pakatan state government to collapse overnight. But the scar left from such a drastic rift could be felt nationwide, and jeopardise the prospect of Pakatan taking power at the national level in the next general election.

Kedah DAP leaders have however left themselves a lifeline by stating that their withdrawal was made at the state level only, leaving the national DAP leadership to pick up the wreckage and work out a compromise with the PAS and PKR national leadership.

The Pakatan coalition is unlikely to crack as yet over this local issue in Kedah. The whole incident could very well end up as another mini-storm in a tea-cup. But from the way things go in recent days and months, Pakatan will need a very big, thick, and strong tea cup.

SIM KWANG YANG was MP for Bandar Kuching between 1982 and 1995. He can be reached at kenyalang578@hotmail.com. Mkini