Wanted: a new spirit of bipartisanship to forge consensus

 We need to wring essence from the miscellany of reformist political parties.

From Terence Netto

Zahir Hassan, the PKR MP for Wangsa Maju, is on to something.

Although he says he is friendly with Rafizi Ramli, he is not about to leave PKR for Bersama, the new political party PKR dissidents are gravitating to.

Perhaps what Zahir is saying is that he likes Rafizi’s ideas but he is not about to abandon PKR to join Bersama.

It may be that Zahir wants to encourage individuals and parties that have sprouted up on the broad expanse of the movement for reformasi to adopt a spirit of bipartisanship.

Such a spirit will avert the fragmentation of that expanse into multiple political parties, each following the instincts of its restless initiator.

This is a recipe for ideological incoherence and wasted energy.

One would have thought the formation of Bersama would have slowed the fragmentation of the reformasi landscape into multiple parties and representatives.

This has not been the case.

Parti Bangsa Malaysia, set up by Julau MP Larry Sng, was fledging since its formation in 2021, but after Bersama’s launch earlier this year, it gained a frisson of energy.

Larry drew former DAP stalwart Ronnie Liu to energise PBM and this saw lawyer and social activist Siti Kassim signing up in the cause. She was followed into the party by Shamsul Saad, who fronts the popular Gut Shot Podcast.

Shamsul and cohort Syed Akhbar Ali are two of the most trenchant commentators on public affairs in Malaysia, the former having gone on to declare he intends to stand for election in GE16 and even wants to become prime minister.

This is what happens when the leader – Anwar Ibrahim – who had for a long time wanted to become prime minister, did not become the prime minister they wanted him to be: a host of wannabes appear.

They think it is easy to do what Anwar appears to find difficult: follow an agenda long enunciated and espoused.

Presently, we have a plethora of parties and contenders for running Putrajaya and for prime minister.

But on the broad expanse of the reformasi agenda, we have essentially Pakatan Harapan and Bersama, with PBM lately in the fray.

Not much point in talking about Muda and Parti Sosialis Malaysia.

This is not to disparage the two, but they are perennial also-rans.

As for Muhyiddin Yassin-led Bersatu, it is headed for collaboration with PKR, not only in the upcoming Melaka polls but also in GE16.

This brings us to what Zahir is intimating when he says his friendship with Rafizi is not prompting him to sign up with Bersama.

The Bersatu rump, after the breakaway of Wawasan, will find its way back to PKR.

So would Bersama.

Of course, this would be after Anwar leaves the scene.

At 79, his retirement is not too far away.

The political landscape that supports reformasi cannot sustain multiple parties.

They have all to get together, arrayed against a coalition between an Islamic PAS and a right-wing Umno, which if it comes about, is certain to be shaky.

But that matter is for another day.

A spirit of bipartisanship, as intimated by Zahir, is what will get the reformists together, a consolidation that’s necessary to avert a PAS-Umno triumph.

The reformasi crowd do not all have to agree on everything; they just have to collate essence from miscellany.

As Zahir has argued, a new spirit of bipartisanship will require maturity from the reformists.

They will have to be wary of the egoists and the self-centred and plump for the true and tested.

This maturity is imperative to keep the religious identity and racial identity politics of PAS and Umno at bay. - FMT

Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.