A grand coalition won’t overcome power struggle, say political analysts

 

The grand coalition that was proposed by BN secretary-general Annuar Musa is unnecessary as it will not overcome the power struggle and the politicking among political parties, analysts say.

UKM's Abdul Rahman Embong said the idea for the grand coalition is only meant to retain power, rather than to eliminate corruption, develop integrity and bring about reforms.

"This proposal shows that there are leaders in Umno who have yet to learn from the past lessons, where they were detached from the people.

"This proposal will not overcome the power struggle among political parties. They would continue politicking.

"Prior to this, they had a big coalition comprising numerous parties within BN. Did it remain solid when they lost power?"

Abdul Rahman said what the political parties need now is awareness and a vision to bring the people of numerous races to a better future.

Annuar had suggested for the grand coalition among parties to reject Pakatan Harapan.

The Ketereh MP relayed his message via Facebook recently, saying that "for too long, our politics have been centred around two or three personalities, and not on the basis of struggle".

He stressed that the union of the ummah should not be limited to just Umno, PAS and Bersatu.

Hence, Annuar was planning to organise the formation of a grand coalition involving at least 12 political parties.

Another analyst, Mazlan Ali, who is a senior lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, said parties like Pejuang, Muda and Warisan would reject Annuar's proposal.

Mazlan said Umno itself was, in fact, not interested in Annuar's proposal as the party's dilemma now is Bersatu, which is seen as threatening Umno's survival.

"Umno is worried about Bersatu's progress. In recent days, its leaders were critical towards the Perikatan Nasional government.

"While Pejuang, led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad will not work with PN as it does not want to work with leaders from Umno, notably those who have court cases," he said.

On the other hand, Muda and Warisan shared the same trait as Harapan, which is anti-racism.

An analyst from Universiti Utara Malaysia, Rusdi Omar, opined that it's difficult to achieve a grand coalition as the three main parties, namely Umno, Bersatu and PAS, have no clear understanding among them.

"I think the idea is good, but for now it's difficult to do so. The reason being that there is no understanding and trust among these parties - and this will further create uncertainty," Rusdi said. - Mkini