Secular-Islamic struggle collapses three consecutive opposition coalitions

This February 2013 pic, courtesy of DAP's The Rocket newsletter, shows the key leaders in the 3-party coalition Pakatan Rakyat a few months prior to the 13th general election. The demise of PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat (2nd right) and the conviction of PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (3rd left), both in February this year, were two other blows which hurt the coalition. – The Rocket pic, June 21, 2015.

Last week, partners in the federal opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat announced that it no longer existed – following almost a year of fractious relationship.PAS practically set the ball rolling by cutting ties with DAP through a motion that was passed without debate at the party's muktamar which was swept clean by the party's conservative faction, earlier this month.

DAP retaliated and announced the end of the seven-year-old partnership.

The next day, PKR, left without a choice, agreeing that PR "no longer functions formally".

But PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang insisted that PR is not dead.

As Malaysians reflected on what could have been – PR coming so close (the closest in history) to ending Barisan Nasional's rule – this, however is not the first time that such a template has been sketched out.

The PAS-DAP tug-of-war appeared to be a clash between the Islamist and secular ideologies, something Malaysia as a nation has struggled with in the political arena for decades.

PR is the fourth federal opposition to have collapsed since Malaysia's independence.

Here, we take a look at the other coalitions that pre-dated them and how they fared.

Malayan Peoples' Socialist Front (1958-1969)

The socialist front was the longest lasting opposition coalition in Malaysian history, which stood for 11 years, albeit with minimal impact in Malaysian politics.

It was a two-party coalition, consisting of Partai Rakyat Malaysia (Parti Rakyat Malaysia) and the Labour Party of Malaya.

It was formed in 1958 and won eight seats in the 1959 general elections, just two years after Malaya gained independence from the British.

In the 1964 elections, it's share reduced to only two seats and was dissolved soon after the fractious and strife-torn 1969 general elections, when the then Alliance (the predecessor to Barisan Nasional) lost its two-third majority in the Dewan Rakyat for the first time.

PRM, however, were not one of the parties who capitalised in the massive gains made by opposition parties. While DAP, Gerakan, and PAS made gains, PRM did not win a single seat.

LPM was dissolved as a party in 1969, ending the front.

Gagasan Rakyat/Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (1990-1995)

Probably the coalition that brought about the most expectation before PR was Gagasan Rakyat, a multi-party coalition that also included another coalition of Malay-Islamic parties.

Shortly after a huge team of Umno leaders were forced to leave the party – following Umno's dissolution and revival as Umno Baru – and formed Semangat 46 (S46), led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, the party formed Gagasan Rakyat with PRM and DAP for the 1990 general elections.

At the same time, a host of Muslim parties – S46, PAS, Berjasa, Hamim, among others, teamed up to form APU, a coalition of Islamic parties.

DAP won 20 parliamentary seats in that general election, while Semangat 46 won 8, and PAS won 7.

Semangat 46 and PAS' APU made a clean sweep of all the state seats in the Kelantan state assembly to form the state government. But APU had problems working together in Kelantan, while Gagasan Rakyat fought over who should become the parliamentary opposition leader.

Lim Kit Siang, who was leading the DAP with the largest share of parliamentary seats back then, was asked to give way as opposition leader to a Malay-Bumiputra candidate.

But relationships plummeted as the sensitivity of PAS and DAP working together prevailed, and Gagasan Rakyat was disbanded just before the 1995 general elections.

Barisan Alternatif (1999-2004)

The previous incarnation of PR lasted all but two years, after the imprisonment of sacked Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar's supporters and family members formed Keadilan, which then sought the alliance of both PAS and DAP for the 1999 general elections.

The alliance proved costly for DAP, as their two most celebrated leaders, Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh, lost their respective parliamentary seats due to the fears of the Chinese community (DAP's largest voter base) over the Islamist party, among other sensitivities over DAP working with PAS.

PAS gained massively, winning both the Kelantan and Terengganu state governments and becoming the largest opposition party with 27 parliamentary seats. Keadilan only managed to obtain 5 seats, while DAP ended up with 10.

With another three seats from Sabah, BA obtained 45 parliamentary seats. But infighting soon set in, and DAP's deteriorating performance led to the party cutting ties with BA in 2001.

BA stayed on as a front for the 2004 elections, only to end up with only eight seats with PAS' Kamaruddin Jaafar as its opposition leader. DAP, standing alone, won 12 seats, as then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi won his first general election as Barisan Nasional chief with a landslide victory.

Pakatan Rakyat (2008-2015)

Pakatan Rakyat was born before the 2008 general elections, in anticipation of Anwar's active return to politics. His wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, led the opposition coalition to a historic feat of denying Barisan Nasional a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Pakatan won 82 out of 222 parliamentary seats, and swept five states along the way – Penang, Kedah, Perak, Kelantan, and the richest state in the country – Selangor.

Pakatan built on the relatively strong performances in the states it ruled, especially Selangor and Penang, to head into the 2013 general elections with Anwar being opposition leader, some 15 years after his sacking and imprisonment.

Despite winning the popular vote for the first time in Malaysian history, having taken 53% of all votes, Pakatan still only garnered 89 parliamentary seats.

They retained Selangor, Penang and Kelantan, but signs of friction showed when PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang fielded PAS candidates in seats allocated to PKR, causing overlaps and three-corner fights, especially in several state seats.

After Pakatan's dreams of obtaining federal power ended, the bond between the three parties disintegrated, and cracks began to appear.

PAS's interference in the Selangor Menteri Besar crisis in 2014 started a series of events that has now ended Pakatan as a coalition at the national level less than a year later.

Its ambitions to push through Islamic penal law Hudud in Kelantan did not sit well with DAP, which caused open friction between DAP and PAS.

PAS eventually decided to cut ties with DAP, and the latter then announced the end of Pakatan.

The ideological battle

But a recurring theme the last three failed coalitions seems be an underlying battle with secular and Islamic ideologies.

This was typified by one of the PAS progressives, Khalid Samad, who lost in the party's Muktamar recently.

"There seems to be a change in the thought process within PAS. They now are thinking, what if we win federal power and the majority of our MPs are not Malay-Muslims?" he said.

"But that was not the original thought process (upon entering Pakatan). The idea was that the amount of Malay-Muslim MPs would not be a matter of concern, because the majority of the Parliament is filled with Malay-Muslim representation anyway," he added.

Political observers and key players are all hinting at another coalition to be in place in time for the next general elections, with the BN government having struggled to reverse its popularity decline over the past seven years.

The pact had worked on the basis of bringing down the Federal government three times before – making use of Tengku Razaleigh and his team's exodus from Umno, Anwar's imprisonment, and also Anwar's return to the forefront of politics.

But having a common enemy has never worked, and with the end of Pakatan, it only serves to reinforce that point further.

What is needed, is a coalition with a common ideology at the core – whose aim should not be to rattle BN alone.