YOURSAY ' Inclusiveness is good, but remember, Pakatan 1.0 failed. '
Nurul: Anger and bitterness cannot be basis for new Pakatan
Kim Quek: I don’t see how it is feasible for PAS to be included in the new alliance, as long as president Abdul Hadi Awang continues to lead PAS, for reasons already well known to everyone.
Even if Abdul Hadi changes his tune now, he (and by extension PAS) will not regain the trust of non-Malays, especially the Chinese.
If an election is held now, Chinese support for PAS will dwindle from roughly 70 percent in GE13 to practically nothing now. And if PKR joins up with PAS, it too will suffer a devastating loss of Chinese support.
This will result in PAS being wiped out except in Kelantan and possibly in Terengganu. Similarly, PKR’s parliamentary seats will be slashed by at least half.
PKR’s sudden insistence to include PAS in the new alliance is probably caused by the conspicuous drop of Malay participation in the Bersih 4 rally. However, this phenomenon must be understood in its proper contest.
It is true that PAS’ withdrawal from this rally is a major factor. However, we must realise that PAS members and supporters who made up most of the Malay participants in earlier rallies were there because of their obedience to party directives (rather than motivated by the political idealism expounded by Bersih) and because of the party’s large-scale mobilisation to ferry participants from areas outside Kuala Lumpur.
These two factors were not present in Bersih 4, as the new Parti Amanah Negara was not even formed; hence the conspicuous drop in Malay attendance. Besides, the almost doubling of Chinese participants tends to exaggerate the actual numerical decrease of Malay presence.
But that does not mean that Amanah, with its clarion calls for sweeping changes in the multi-racial and inclusive context, will not be able to fill the vacuum caused by PAS’ withdrawal.
In fact, its influence will expand beyond that of PAS, as it will not only regain non-Malay support but will pull in disgruntled Umno members and supporters, as disillusionment of Najib’s catastrophic leadership among these people is now widespread.
Lastly, attendance of mass rally is not an accurate measurement of electoral support. This is proven in the landslide Chinese support for Pakatan in GE12 and GE13 despite their sparse presence in earlier Bersih rallies.
Similarly, the disproportionately lesser presence of Malays in the Bersih 4 rally does not reflect the widespread loss of confidence of Malays in the current Umno-led regime.
Prudent: The issues are not personal feelings of anger and bitterness. I am sure both PAS and DAP can overcome these, especially in politics. The issues are PAS' hudud and its failure to adhere to Pakatan Rakyat’s common policy framework.
PAS and especially Abdul Hadi have a track record of betraying the common policy framework. By working with Umno in passing hudud in the Kelantan state assembly, Abdul Hadi and PAS have created mistrust among the non-Muslim voters.
How can they overcome this by GE14?
Spinnot: I support inclusiveness but I don't support a political party that reneges on its promise (the Pakatan common policy framework) and betrays the trust of its coalition partners (for example having talks with its coalition's political enemy to form a ‘unity government’).
Hank Marvin: PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar should remember this:
1) PAS has been working with Umno to bring down Pakatan.
2) PAS had severed ties with DAP and boycotted the Permatang Pauh by-election.
3) PAS has run PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim down in 2013 by putting Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as their PM designate.
Nurul Izzah is the obvious casualty (if PAS leaves) as she only won by a slim 1,800 majority in her Lembah Pantai seat in 2013. If PAS is out, Nurul Izzah may have to say goodbye to her parliamentary seat.
ACR: No to PAS ever, at least until Abdul Hadi is no longer its president. I wonder what is wrong with Anwar when he insists on working with a party led by a man who insulted him and his wife and PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
What Nurul Izzah and PKR deputy president Azmin Ali are now saying is essentially what Anwar wants i.e. to work with everyone. That is the same indecisiveness that had led to Pakatan imploding.
If the progressives in PAS can see through the nonsense and leave PAS to form Amanah, what on earth is Anwar thinking by wanting PKR to still work with PAS? What rubbish is this?
Hplooi: Nurul, what if 'consensus' is always countermanded by the PAS chief himself days later or when PAS deliberately nominates a third party to create three-cornered fights in the elections (this already happened in the last GE)?
Urkidding: Working with PAS without Hadi Awang is fine. But remember, past incidents indicated that only Abdul Hadi is calling the shots. Abdul Hadi even refused to attend Pakatan leadership council meetings and sang a different song.
He is not a team player. Nothing personal, but these are facts. Surely PKR believes in facts. Inclusiveness is good, but remember, Pakatan 1.0 failed.
My_Logic: I'm amazed at Nurul’s illogical thinking, especially now that PAS has openly said it will work with Umno. And why have the component parties kept Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) out, if they talk about being inclusive?
Azmin very wrong to continue working with PAS: Ramkarpal
Gunnerrun: PAS now has no recognisable leaders left, none with nerves of steel. All are unknown except for president Abdul Hadi and the small boy in Kelantan taming his goatee.
What have they got to offer except hudud? What do you think, if they had teamed up when DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng was defending the girl who was raped and he was then jailed, they might not even have defended her because there weren't four witnesses to back her story up.
PAS has no geniuses in economics and management of a country, they can only bring some of the still mentally-trapped-in-time east coast votes for Pakatan.
Other than that, it's too much of a marriage of convenient, with a divorce only too predictable as the eventual outcome.
Lonely MidnightSun: Tell me DAP leader Ramkarpal Singh, what would you do if you were in Azmin's shoes? Get rid of PAS in Selangor and then what? Become the opposition in Selangor? You are so clever, give us your solution.
Send in the Clowns: Lonely MidnightSun, you should not allow greed to overcome your principles. So what if you lose the Selangor government, it would not be the end of the world. Most importantly, at least you have no crap on your hands.
Anonymous 2112022009694: PKR is not very sure Pakatan 2.0 will win GE14 without PAS. PKR is also not sure Amanah can take on PAS in a three-way fight.
A DAP, Amanah and PKR coalition cannot beat BN in GE14. Just like Umno cannot win without rural Malay votes, only PAS can win Muslim votes in the rural areas.
Boiling Mud: It is a waste of time to carry on expressing my concern over PKR's lack of crystal clear direction. It suffices to say if a PKR candidate is placed in the constituency where I have to cast my vote in the next GE, I would not vote for that unfortunate PKR person.
To pay back in kind as a gratitude for a favour or opportunity is fine, but to pawn the chance for a country to have better governance is unacceptable. Azmin, I hope you understand what I mean about my reference to the words 'gratitude' and 'favour'.
BH Yap: Azmin thinks he's cleverer than the enemy within. He will regret this decision one day. I will not vote for PKR again if this happens, especially after Abdul Hadi’s and the other PAS leaders' betrayal.
Anonymous_1377321471: Azmin, please wake up. You are sleeping with a two-headed spouse with a knife under the mattress.
Send in the Clowns: Azmin, We understand it is very difficult for you to part with someone so dear to you, but repulsive and disgusting to the opposition supporters.
Therefore, the time has come for you to decide, you are either with us or with Abdul Hadi, the Umno lackey. You cannot have your cake and eat it.
The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .
These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.
More news
Al Jazeera journo deported over Altantuya murder story
'PM does not know Altantuya', PMO repeats to Al Jazeera
MP: Vote down Budget if speaker disallows no-confidence motion
Kit Siang: Red shirts rally for pro-Najib Malays
Gov't to amended directive to prevent leak of secrets
PKR bitten many times, but still not shy
PAS in Pakatan 2.0 - back to square one
Pua: Why 1MDB more interested to have me removed?
Malacca Umno denies mobilising members for ‘red shirt’ rally
Expect two new coalitions, PKR-PAS and DAP-Amanah
