Strong opposition needed even if Pakatan comes to power, says Anwar

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

January 05, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said that a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal government would be satisfied with a simple majority in Parliament, citing concerns that a two-thirds majority victory will make the coalition complacent.

The PKR de facto leader said that a simple majority would ensure a strong federal government as well as opposition, as well as allow a proper-check-and balance system so that PR does not end up mirroring the current Barisan Nasional government.

“Why do you need to win and have two-thirds majority, for what? Simply majority cukup (is enough). Two-thirds will make (us) complacent... two-thirds if you are too strong, you don’t and won’t have a strong, formidable opposition,” Anwar(picture) told The Malaysian Insiderduring an interview yesterday.

The opposition leader said he was confident of PR’s chances of taking over Putrajaya and forming a new federal government, and that he wanted “Umno to perform well as an opposition party.”

Election 2008 saw PKR become the largest opposition party in Parliament with a total of 31 MPs as BN suffered its worst performance at the polls ever, ceding five state governments and 82 parliamentary seats.

But it failed to defend Hulu Selangor in a by-election and lost a further six MPs who decided to become independent, allowing the DAP to become the biggest opposition party in Parliament with 28 MPs.

PAS, despite being the largest PR party in terms of membership, had the smallest representation in Parliament with only 23 MPs after the polls.

Asked about PR’s plans for Sabah and Sarawak, Anwar replied by saying that it was focusing on increasing the current number of state and parliamentary seats for the two states.

“It will not be worse than 2008. We do not need to win Sabah and Sarawak. We need a substantial number of seats, and we are there,” the Permatang Pauh MP told The Malaysian Insider.

Since the 2008 general election, 57 of the 60 state assembly seats in Sabah are represented by BN, while the remaining three are represented by the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) (two seats) and the DAP (one seat.)

The Sarawak state election last year saw PR make significant inroads by winning 15 of the 71 state assembly seats. PR previously had seven seats in the state.