PKR, General Elections-13 and Malaysian Politics

by Dr. Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk

Tea Tarik Before the Electoral Fight

As the year 2010 is drawing to a close, most Malaysians are either enjoying some time off with their loved ones or coming up with New Year’s resolutions but things are heating up on the political front.This is partly due to the fact that political pundits and soothsayers are trying hard to read the Prime Minister’s mind. The utmost question that they are trying to crack is whether or not the 13th general elections will be held in March of 2011. While most political analysts would like to think that politics is an exact science, the truth of the matter is that it is not.

Nevertheless, all indicators are showing that an early election might be in the offing. UMNO, for instance, has decided to postpone its party elections and it is highly likely that the MCA will follow suit.

Most political observers will tell us that maintaining internal party cohesion is of crucial importance for political parties when facing their opponents, and by postponing party elections, political parties can channel its energy towards winning over the electorates.

On the positive side of the ledger, Barisan Nasional’s opponent, more specifically Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), had just come out rather bruised following the recently held party elections which saw among other things, the exit of the onetime Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

The political development in the PKR this time around might have a different effect on the electorates than Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s famous black eye incident. While Anwar had gained much sympathy then, his behind the scene political maneuverings in the recently held party elections had demonstrated that the PKR’s supremo is indeed a shrewd politician who is only interested in maximizing his power without contesting for a single post.

This is indeed mind boggling as Anwar likes to portray himself as not only a democrat but also a reformer. If we were to take away Anwar’s rhetoric, we can add credence to Zaid’s claim that Anwar is not really interested in reform.

1-Malaysia, NEM, ETP at stake in GE-13

PKR’s attractiveness to the electorates lies in its claim that the party is serious about reform, and while its former deputy president Dr. Syed Husin Ali had rightly pointed out that the party needs an ideology, PKR’s sloganeering managed to woo a substantial number of electorates to vote for its candidates in the last general elections.

The right question for thinking Malaysians to ask is whether or not PKR is really serious about reform. Some of the contenders in PKR’s hotly contested elections, Zaid included, had claimed the elections were less than fair, and that party officials had even condoned fraudulent practices. Those of us who are familiar with Anwar’s political career can still recall how he had outmaneuvered the late Tun Ghaffar Baba for the post of UMNO’s deputy president.

While Anwar was not implicated with any wrongdoings, there were speculations about his involvement in patronage politics, and the late Tun Ghaffar‘s decision to pull out of that election might have something to do with it. All politicians, regardless of their affiliations are involved in some kind of politicking in one form or another so as to enable them to move up the party hierarchy or discredit their opponents. Anwar’s insistence that PKR is different from UMNO is therefore laughable.

The recent political fallout in PKR is no different from the power struggle in UMNO or any other political party. Most of all, Anwar’s hold on PKR mirrors Roberto Michel’s iron law of oligarchy.

The political disarray in PKR has been cited by the pundits as one of the compelling reasons for the Prime Minister to call for an early election. Another oft-cited reason is the need for the Prime Minister to seek a fresh mandate.

We should nonetheless be mindful of the fact that the next general election is not due until March of 2013. While there is no doubt the intra-party political squabble has somewhat weakened the PKR, Datuk Seri Najib’s administration does not need to capitalize on that alone. Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) have been pouring in, and it has been at its highest level in a decade. More importantly, the government economic transformation plan is beginning to bear fruit.

Since taking over the helm of government, Datuk Seri Najib has been addressing all the pressing issues that were raised by the rakyat during the last general elections, and surely more time is needed for all these initiative to come into place.

Nevertheless, some pundits have written off Barisan Nasional’s chances of winning the next general election altogether. I, on the other hand, do feel that while Barisan Nasional has come out the last general election bruised, the party is still a forced to be reckon with.–www.nst.com.my

Dr. Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk is a Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia and is currently a visiting scholar at the Institute of Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University, Berlin Germany