With the 11th state election just around the corner, the subject of politics has become a hot topic in coffee shops and on the streets.
Henceforth, it is opportune time to examine why Barisan Nasional (BN) was able to withstand the test of time and remain intact since its inception in 1973. The opposition pact – Pakatan Rakyat (PR), however, true enough as labelled by political analysts as a “marriage of convenience”, broke up, and replaced by the latest pact in the likes of Pakatan Harapan (PH), but minus PAS.
Let us first look at the definition of political alliance. A political alliance can defined as a political coalition or political bloc. It is an agreement for cooperation between different political parties built upon common political agenda, often for contesting an election to reap mutual benefit.
Now, if we look at the multi-racial composition our country, while economic cooperation is important, political cooperation is just as crucial. For the record, our country have had a multi-party system since the first direct election of the Federal Legislative Council of the Malaya in 1955 on a first-past-the-post basis.
Prior to 1973, the ruling party had always been the Alliance Party or Parti Perikatan in Malay. The Alliance Party, comprised United Malays National Organisation (Umno), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), was formally registered as a political organisation on Oct 30, 1957. In fact, the Alliance played an important role in negotiating the transition to independence from British rule, and facilitating the preparation of its constitution.
In Sarawak, the alliance was formed prior to 1963 election, comprising parties such as Barisan Rakyat Jati Sarawak (Barjasa), Parti Negara Sarawak (Panas), Sarawak National Party (SNAP), and Sarawak Chinese Association (SCA).
The need to ensure the domination of Muslim Bumiputera in Sarawak politics, prompted Panas and Barjasa to initiate a plan of merger, which eventually led to the formation of Parti Bumiputera.
During the 1970 Sarawak election , Parti Bumiputera won 12 seats while SCA won three seats out of a total of 48 seats contested. However, not a single party commanded a majority in the then Council Negeri (now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly).
This prompted Abdul Rahman Ya’kub from Parti Bumiputera to convince the first political party in Sarawak – SUPP to form a state government with him as the chief minister. Later, the merger of three state parties, namely Parti Negara Sarawak (Panas), Barisan Rakyat Jati Sarawak (Barjasa) and Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak (Pesaka) led the formation of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB).
PBB is the backbone of the state BN, which was officially registered on April 30, 1973. The party won all its 35 contested in 10th state election in 2011. PBB was formed with the aim of improving of the livelihood and safeguarding the rights of the Bumiputera in many fields such as politics, economy and social.
PBB is divided into two wings namely Bumiputera wing which consisted of Malay, Melanau, Kedayan, and Jatti Mereik.
Pesaka wing on the other hand, consisted of Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu members.
From 1973 onwards, the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition came into being, taking over from its predecessor – Alliance Party. BN coalition consist of component parties such as the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and 11 other political parties. It was formed in the aftermath of the 1969 general election and the May 13 riots.
BN is founded on the principle of working together for racial unity and also on the understanding that there is no single race that can form a government.
That aside let’s look at the other side of the political divide. A broad spectrum of opposition parties exist in Malaysia but their political ideologies and orientations varied vastly. The first opposition alliance came about when Semangat ’46 and PAS were able to initiate an electoral alliance with two localised Kelantan parties – Hamin and Berjasa thus forging the Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (APU).
They could not form a single coalition like BN but only an electoral alliance against the ruling coalition. The alliance although not registered operated from 1990 till 1996, when it was disbanded.
APU had work together with Gagasan Rakyat comprised of DAP, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) during the 1990 general election. But, somehow in the mid-1990s, Semangat 46’s relationship with DAP deteriorated, which eventually led to the breakup of the Gagasan Rakyat coalition, shortly before the 1995 general election. When Semangat 46’s was dissolved, it spelt the demise of the opposition.
The glaring feature that distinguishes the opposition and BN was that the opposition forged alliance to win elections only, while the ruling coalition shared common goal of bringing benefit to the nation.
In fact, the opposition was rather fragmented from 1957 till 1998, where the initial transformation occurred at the height of Asian financial crisis.
The emerging reformasi movement led to the formation of Alternative Front (Barisan Alternatif – BA). BA was formed from an electoral alliance among the four largest opposition parties, namely the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS), the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the National Justice Party (Keadilan) and the Malaysian People’s Party .
It was however, disbanded in 2004 general election, and succeeded by Pakatan Rakyat formed in 2008 after the 12th General Election. The opposition took control of Penang, Selangor, Kedah, Perak and Kelantan. The pact did not last long with the bad blood between PAS and DAP boiling, which stemmed from the vast differences in ideologies. DAP eventually declared that it could no longer work with PAS, and opted out of the alliance (PR).
This gave birth to a new opposition alliance – Pakatan Harapan (PH) but without PAS.
Now, to me what is weird is that PAS is still in the Selangor government when they are not a member Pakatan Harapan. Previously, the opposition said they could work to agree to disagree. Then again, one needs to be mindful that in politics, there are no permanent friends or foes. So, it is disagree to agree.
In Sarawak, the opposition parties are squabbling among themselves due to the overlapping claims of seats. DAP and PKR are still at loggerheads over rural seats in the state as each party claim it has better chance of winning.
PKR deputy president Dr Xavier Jayakumar had declared that the party would take on DAP if provoked. This meant that PKR would fiercely defend their rural seats which they claimed belong to them.
In the BN camp, there is no doubt, there are conflicts among components but, they are still within BN.
Even if they are not in BN, they still want to work with BN. UPP and Teras the splinters of BN component parties had pledged full support to the state BN under the leadership of Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem.
In conclusion, my diagnosis is that the opposition alliance is what has been described the Malay proverb, “Seperti minyak dan air”, or in English – oil and water, which can neither mix nor blend. Two layers coming together but different entity, which can never unite.
On the contrary, BN component parties built on a component goal to serve the people blend in perfect harmony thus, ensuring everlasting political coalition.