On PKR’s Strategy
I just don’t get the strategists in PKR man. I’ve just read an article on Malaysia-Today here, and all I can say is that they are deluding themselves. I mean, come on, they wanna ask the Chinese community to support PAS in the coming Kelantan state by-election? I feel that their strategy is fatally flawed man. The Chinese are scared out of their pants of PAS’s dream of a hand-chopping Hudud Law state, and you think that they can be convinced to vote for PAS solely out of goodwill corporation amongst the opposition parties to deny BN a state? Dream on lah! 
The reality is, PAS is poison to the non-Muslim community (ie: Chinese and Indians), and to a certain extent, many urban Malays as well. After 6 years, PKR should have by now decided where it’s stance is. And I still say that it should dissasociate itself fully from PAS. Why is it so afraid of doing so?
In terms of it’s voter base, what does PKR hope to accomplish by remaining close allies with PAS? Why would our more religious-inclined Muslim Malaysians want to vote for PKR when they already have PAS? PAS has never been able to win many seats (7 in the 04 GE) at the federal parliament level anyways. Instead, DAP has consistently been the opposition party with the largest number (12 in the 04 GE) of federal parliament seats. The only time in recent memory that PAS beat DAP at the federal level was in 1999, and even that was solely because of the Anwar backlash, and not because of any enthusiastic endorsement of PAS’s Islamic State vision. So what does this tell us? That the majority of Malaysians, irregardless of race prefer a secular party (ie BN, DAP) as oppose to a theocratic one (ie PAS). So why isn’t PKR positioning itself that way then? It would have the added advantage, as oppose to UMNO, of not just being able to pull in the non-PAS Malay votes, but also of the entire spectrum of non-Malay Muslims in Malaysia due to it’s multiracial outlook! If done correctly, PKR has the potential of rendering DAP, and the whole of the BN component parties obsolete. On the other hand, PAS is at best only a fringe state party ala Kelantan and Terengganu. Likewise, by associating itself so closely with PAS, PKR will alienate it’s Chinese, Indian, and the not-so-religiously-inclined Malay supporters for no apparent gains. I feel then that PKR should instead totally switched it’s strategy and concentrate on attracting the urban, liberal, and secular Malaysian voters if it harbours any aspirations of presenting itself as an alternative federal level party to BN.
Like I said earlier, PKR is a Malay party.
When you point out that a party can’t force a quota on its member, I agree with that fully. Still however, with policies such as alliance with PAS, which implicitly shows that it wants more Malay and Muslim voters, PKR is choosing the composition of its members.
The same with Gerakan. It’s a multiracial party on paper but with its goals aligned along communal lines. That effectively attracts membership from the community that it fights for, which is, essentially, primarily, for the Chinese.
As for DAP, er, I don’t know. They do have members for other communities though, excluding Malay. Most Malays are probably scared of DAP’s Malaysian Malaysia ideal and that could be the reason why DAP lack Malay members. Still, there are more and more Malays that disagree with Malay rights and the chances of DAP having more Malay in the future might brighten a bit.
Comment by __earth — November 23, 2005 @ 2:47 am
I congratulate you on your boldness in highlighting certain opinions that many in the party share but are afraid to voice out. There is a growing perception, even within the party, that this alliance is only succeeding in alienating a lot of people while making negligible gains.
I do disagree that PKR should only concentrate on urban voters. Urban constituencies make up less than 30% of the parliamentary seats and even if we were to win them all, which is very unlikely, we would still be in no position to challenge the hegemony of the opposition (ie. BN).
I am of the opinion that we should concentrate on winning some states while concentrating on developing constituencies as a long term strategic move. Perhaps then we can see some change happen.
Comment by Bob K — November 25, 2005 @ 8:44 am
Ehh, what is this? Australian commenting on Malaysian internal affairs? Stop meddling!
PKR may logically want to ditch PAS, however consider that PKR has only one parliamentary seat vs. several for PAS. PKR-logic dictates that they should stick with PAS. Though that same logic dictates that PKR should hook up with DAP. Though that would mean that those evil Chinese
businessmen politicians would be controlling PKR.Comment by Rajan R — November 25, 2005 @ 11:32 am
From what I understand, most people are fed up with both the government and the opposition. I actively follow several threads of discussion in different communities - perhaps the only one where I don’t have a firm connection is the rural communities. But among pretty much everyone else - intellectual Malays, intellectual Malaysian emigres, secondary school students, ordinary urbanites - the attitude is, as one Malay intellectual put it, There Is No Alternative (jokingly abbreviated as TINA).
Let’s get real. The DAP won’t appeal to the Malays and Indians, and the way they behave, it seems to me as if this is intentional. The party’s top leadership (aside from Karpal) and the way they state their policies makes me think that at least on a subconscious level, they would rather prefer not to have Malays with them, or at least don’t intend to actively pursue them. To make matters worse, the DAP’s ardent harping on socialism frightens away the merchantile Chinese and those few successful Indians.
Let’s not even talk about PAS - Cyrix has shown it to be a complete and utter farce on the national level, and hell will freeze over before it can win the votes of the non-Muslims.
So, it seems the only viable alternative left is PKR. However, PKR has a lot of house-cleaning to do before it can even hope to challenge BN. It needs to dump the ex-UMNOputras in the party, and this likely includes Anwar. The man’s charismatic, but that’s about it. He’s an UMNOputra through and through - a great politician, but poor statesman. And it goes without saying that PAS needs to be dumped, and the sooner the better.
However, it’s clear PKR will not be dumping Anwar any time soon. After all, that is its only selling point, and the only unique differentiator it has from other parties. PKR is also intent on aiming for the Malay audience. This will likely not change any time soon.
IMO, what is needed is a party led by Malaysians (this naturally includes a substantial number of Malays) who are unassociated with the establishment. I’ve laid out some of my ideas for this potential party on my my blog/forum.
Truth be told, I think most of us would agree with Gerakan’s policies. The problem is that Gerakan is in BN, which stifles its ability to change things. It doesn’t help either that Gerakan is far from multiracial - BN’s communalist nature and Gerakan’s heritage from MCA have ensured it is largely monoracial.
Still, whatever may occur, I am skeptical of the opposition’s chances to effect change. Malaysia is not ready for the opposition to take over. Most people would prefer to work within the government. It would either take a downright sea change in the political scene (i.e. an opposition party that actually knows what the hell it’s doing) to alter this reality. And from what I can see, PKR is not part of this sea change, and probably never will be.
Comment by johnleemk — November 25, 2005 @ 11:47 am
johnleemk: Agreed. PKR has a lot of potential, but it also has a lot of problems right now.
PKR is basically made up of 3 factions:
1. The ex-UMNO members who were Anwar allies
2. Some pro-PAS and pro-ABIM members who for some reason or other decided to switch party from PAS to PKR, and lastly
3. The true reformist believers: people such as Dr. Syed Husin Ali, and the majority of the non-Malays in there, as well as personalities previously from the various NGOs, and finally the younger urban Malaysians from all races.
Like what you’ve said, for PKR to truly cleanse itself of it’s tainted ‘old guard’ (people who’s dedication to a multiracial and tolerant outlook is seriously doubtful, ala ex-UMNO and PAS dudes), it needs to expell 2/3’s of it’s members! Personally, I think that this is too unrealistic to hope for. It’ll just have to make do with its odd jambooree of different members and hope that everyone will forsake their previous outlooks and concentrate in promoting PKR’s new ideology. A fanciful dream? We’ll just have to wait and see.
And as for Anwar… Here’s what I think: I think we should keep Anwar. Not because I like him (heck, if it were up to me, I’d pick untainted, sincere and principled Malay reformist leader, such as the ex-PRM head, Dr. Syed Husin Ali, or heck even the spirit of Dato Onn Jaafar to head PKR!). It’s just that for some inexplicable reason, many Malays like Anwar. And heck if he can attract a significant number of our Malay brothers and sister’s vital votes, then I reluctantly say that he should head PKR (until a better leader arises).
Comment by Administrator — November 25, 2005 @ 1:26 pm
But in such a case, it’ll only be more of the same if PKR rises to power. Just a different party and a different Prime Minister. If Anwar is only there as a figurehead, that’s no good either. People usually see right through such ruses.
Comment by johnleemk — November 25, 2005 @ 1:42 pm
johnleemk: Judging from the 1999 events, it would not seem so. There’s still a sizeable number of Malays who idolise him. And john, beggers can’t be choosers now
Who else do you have in mind to take his place? Put another minority leader in there, and PKR would go the way of DAP and Gerakan. It needs a moderate Malay to helm it. And heck, it’s slim pickings out there amongst the Malay politicians.
Comment by Administrator — November 27, 2005 @ 10:06 am
The way I see it, there are a lot of intellectual moderate Malays out there. The problem is that most if not all of our political parties have sidelined them. Just take a look at BakriMusa.com (which you should probably add to your blogroll).
Comment by johnleemk — November 27, 2005 @ 10:26 am
Nobody of any sound mind will vote for PKR or PAS. Also, anyone interested in human rights will not vote for PKR and PAS. We can always work within the BN platform as worldwide Muslim rights group Sisters in Islam (SIS) does. If we want to change government, there is only one party DAP. It is a member of Socialist International (SI) which makes it highly credible party. Of course, we need more Malays to reject religious bigotry and join DAP. This will take time though as 48 years of breeding religious hatred has divided us into Muslims versus non-Muslims.
For the time being, as a civilised human being, I will cross BN in Pengkalan Pasir just to irritate those anarchists and religious bigots (in this forum) who back PAS or PKR, two parties built on using lies to fish for votes. Anarchists are usually bankrupt of ideas and just want anarchy. That is why they either spoil their votes or vote for PAS or PKR. As for me, my vote is for either BN or DAP.
Comment by Kamil — November 29, 2005 @ 11:11 am