DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has deemed it counterproductive to zero in on any single personality such as PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and pin the blame on them for Pakatan Harapan's poor showing in the recent Malacca state elections.
The Iskandar Puteri MP said in a post that the Harapan coalition and its leaders needed to continue on the path of equal sharing in decision-making while admitting that allowing defectors to contest on a Harapan ticket was a blunder.
"The days of political hegemony by Umno should have been ended by the May 9, 2018, general election where Harapan toppled a seemingly invincible Umno-hegemonised Barisan Nasional (BN), but the Malacca election seemed to herald a return of Umno's political hegemony.
"This is not the case as can be seen by the votes secured by the three coalitions from the total votes cast – Barisan Nasional 38.39 percent or 122,741 votes; Pakatan Harapan 35.65 percent or 113.968 votes; Perikatan Nasional 24.47 percent or 78,220 votes."
"We are in a new political situation where no political party can exercise political hegemony, but the coalition mindset has yet to be developed," he said.
Lim pointed out that when Harapan was in power under former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, it had slipped into the same habits.
"The prime minister of a coalition of equals like Harapan should operate differently from the prime minister of BN, which is based on Umno political hegemony, but this mindset continued in the 22-month Harapan government from May 2018 – February 2020.
"In a coalition based on the hegemony of one political party, the prime minister decides on everything subject to the acceptance level of the other component parties.
"In a coalition of equals, the prime minister would have to consult and secure the agreement of the other component parties on the minister to be appointed, the ministry to be allocated, and the policy to be followed by the coalition government," said the DAP veteran.
Harapan must keep moral high ground
Lim alluded to the confession by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin during the Malacca general election campaign that in the "hegemony" mould of the coalition government, it was possible for component parties to work at cross-purpose from the coalition objectives, like the arrest and incarceration of elected representatives of component parties on trumped-up charges of terrorist links with the LTTE.
"The coalition mindset can only be developed under the Harapan coalition and not the hegemony-based coalition of BN.
"Harapan should also accept a unanimity rule for decision-making by its presidential council.
"Such a rule would avoid the Harapan blunder like accepting 'political frogs', which was decisively rejected in the Malacca general election," he added.
Lim said that Harapan should never lose the moral high ground of integrity, public service before self and being Malaysian first in a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation.
Lim's words are in contrast to that of AP's Bilut assemblyperson Lee Chin Chen who urged Anwar to step down as the opposition leader and take a back seat following Harapan's defeat in the recently concluded Malacca state election.
Lee said the opposition coalition should explore new directions and find a new consensus as soon as possible, failing which he said DAP must consider the possibility of quitting Harapan.
However, Amanah's Sepang MP Hanipa Mydin said that it was not fair to blame Anwar alone for the Malacca debacle and echoed the view that there was collective decision-making in Harapan. - Mkini
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