‘Pakatan not ready to form government’

Dr Chandra Muzaffar feels Pakatan Rakyat needs to undergo a major change before it takes over the federal administration.

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Rakyat is not ready to form the next federal government and has to undergo a major transformation before it can take over Putrajaya.

In an exclusive interview with FMT, political scientist Dr Chandra Muzaffar said while Pakatan spoke of change, it does not realise that it is the opposition pact that needs to change its style of politicking.

On his reasons why Pakatan should not form the next federal government, he said: “PAS is a party that is linked largely with one part of society and it is only confined to Muslims.”

“It does not bring different religions together. PAS is very much preoccupied with its Muslim identity and in preserving it. PAS is very similar to the Muslim movement in Sudan where its major concerns are women issues and prohibiting mingling with other sexes. They strongly impose a particular interpretation of Islam on the nation,” he said.

Chandra said the party had attempted to woo various other ethnic groups to join PAS but this had failed to materialise.

It won Kelantan in the past elections because of the majority Muslims in the state, he argued.

DAP on the other hand, he said, does not champion Malay issues in fear of losing Chinese support.

“DAP is suppose to be a multiethnic party, but in reality it is otherwise. It is alienated from the Malay majority. The party has no interest in the Malays and it is often voted out in constituencies with Malay majority,” he added.

He said the party had also put Indian interest in the backburner.

“PKR meanwhile is unique. It was established in 1999, and its major concern in reality was to bring Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister who was charged with sexual misconduct and misuse of power out of the prison.

“Once he completed his sentence, the party’s objective was for people to vote him into power. Hence, the party revolves around one particular individual and has nothing much to offer to the people

“His wife and daughter are the key people of the party and this clearly portrays that it is within a family circle who have their own agenda,” he added.

It must be noted that Chandra was one of the key figures involved in the formation of PKR in 1999 but left the party claiming that it did no serve the interest of the nation.