DAP must stick to Pakatan plot

The DAP is yet another party, like PAS, that has joined the 'reformasi' and benefited largely from the electoral 'tsunami' of 2008.

COMMENT

The big question being asked is whether the DAP has turned itself into a “submarine”, using the Chinese voters, to “tag” along with PKR and impose its agenda after the general election.

The party is still moving on the fringe of the Malay-Muslim community despite its association with Pakatan Rakyat and its landmark rule in Penang.

The extent of their “fright” was seen with some PAS members voicing their “concerns” at the Islamist party’s collaboration with DAP. And this, after having enjoyed the victories that came with PAS’ association with the “ogre”.

The most hard-hitting criticism of the PAS-DAP alliance came from Umno, with Perkasa taking the frontline offensive. The DAP has been linked to former communist elements, yet this is only part of the heavy criticism that PAS had to contend with in recent times.

The demonising of DAP will continue into the final days of the 13th general election. The risk with this state of affairs, is that Pakatan may end up losing more support if the DAP is continuously portrayed as “traitors” and as the “ogre” that will eat the Malays once it is in power.

If the DAP’s role in the Pakatan coalition is to represent the Chinese community, it is certain that it does not have 100% support from the community.

PKR has a wider appeal for the fence-sitters in the Chinese community since it is well represented in the party. The Chinese seem more comfortable with Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership in PKR than with MCA’s junior role in BN.

The DAP is yet another party, like PAS, that has joined the “reformasi” and benefited largely from the electoral “tsunami” of 2008.

The party has also benefited from its association with Pakatan in Sabah and Sarawak and will continue to do so as long as it is associated with Anwar and Pakatan. These are facts DAP cannot deny.

Henceforth, any “hidden” agenda by the DAP, if any, to subvert Pakatan’s victory parade in the corridors of power will be futile. Why is that so? Pakatan is today a transformed organisation. The people voting for Pakatan are those voting for change.

There will only be change in Malaysia if Pakatan remains a solid and united political coalition after it takes power. Any attempt by the DAP to impose any of the anti-Malaysia and anti-Islam agenda will fail as there will be no majority in the Parliament to support such a move.

Status quo

Likewise, a Pakatan cabinet will be Muslim-dominated. Unfortunate as this sounds, the reality is that the next regime in place will be forced to continue to play along “communal” lines.

There is no way Pakatan can deny the role played by the Malay-Muslim community in local politics.

PAS and PKR, under Anwar, will have to ensure that the status quo on the communal field is respected.

The DAP will, nevertheless, get to play a more active and a greater role in enhancing Pakatan’s avowed policies of equality, justice and fairness for all Malaysians.

If this is what the Umno-BN and pro-Umno, pro-extreme right Malay voices within the PAS are afraid of, then there is nothing they can do if Pakatan is in the seat of power in Putrajaya.

There are reports, unconfirmed of course, of the DAP being infiltrated by former communist elements. There again, it is doubtful that these elements – if they are given a chance to be in Parliament – will be able to influence any decision-making that may affect the Malays.

In the event former communist elements within the DAP are catapulted into the cabinet, one wonders whether they will be able to carry out subversion in the country.

The claims that such elements have infiltrated the DAP is indicative of a total failure of the strict and draconian laws that were in place to curb subversive elements. If 54 years of the Internal Security Act (ISA) did not stop the “communists” from camouflaging and infiltrating into Pakatan on the onset of the “reformasi” era, then what can stop them?

Does the DAP have a pro-China agenda that will boost the Chinese community’s progress report card in Malaysia? There is little doubt that a regime under the helm of Anwar will have a very pro-Western approach.

Pakatan in power, if it wins the general election, will tend to consolidate Asean’s new-found trust in the US. It will also kowtow to the “Asian values”, promoted by Anwar while he was deputy prime minister.

Pakatan will not allow Malaysia to become a “mini-China” as it will be guided – as mentioned above – by the need to protect the majority community while it enhances the role of the minorities.

Here again, we see how DAP will be limited in its scope to influence even the foreign policies of a country run by Pakatan. The opposition coalition has, on many occasions, shown support for the “revolts” in the Arab world and is against the survival of the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria.

If this is any yardstick to measure the DAP’s real influence in Pakatan, then one might just say that China will lose more under a Pakatan regime in Malaysia than it is under a BN regime.

China is a supporter of the Assad regime and has vetoed attempts by the West to declare total war against Syria. This is against Pakatan’s foreign policy, which is a pro-war approach in Syria.

Anti-DAP campaign

What the DAP will probably do is to get more non-Malays into the civil service, to join the police force and to make life easier in their job applications. DAP, with Pakatan’s support, will also “protect” the interest of the minorities.

At least, this is what one can gather from the incessant campaigns for justice and freedom by DAP stalwarts and MPs across the country.

DAP is not the only party that benefited from Pakatan’s performance. PAS controlled three states after the polls, relegating PKR and the DAP to play second fiddle.

This gave some PAS members the sensation that they were more powerful. It was a fallacy, written all over the walls in Perak, when the PAS-led state government was booted out unceremoniously.

Then why did the BN portray DAP and its popular leader Lim Guan Eng as the devil in disguise? The answer is within the Islamic-based party itself, as pro-Umno elements are rearing their heads on the eve of the of general election.

The imminent danger for Pakatan is the effect of such a long-drawn campaign against the DAP. The campaign started since the DAP took over the helm in Penang as part of the victorious “bounty” for Pakatan’s smashing of BN in 2008.

With the election drawing nearer, there are reports that the civil service is being subjected to a virulent anti-DAP campaign, portraying it as anti-Malay, anti-Islam and a danger to the nation.

Pakatan will benefit largely if it dilutes the “agenda” of the three political organisations into one single political will, and that political will should be that of the famous “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” and nothing more. That is to say, the will of the majority of the people.

Limiting the “singularities” of the three parties – PKR, PAS and the DAP – by turning these into a unifying force for Pakatan is what is needed in the wake of the bashing from the ruling coalition.

In this scenario, the DAP will have to abandon any secret aspiration, if it has any, and support the leadership of Anwar despite the PAS’ dream of electing its leader as the next prime minister.

Ali Cordoba writes extensively on local politics.