PKR losing steam?

PKR losing steam?

 

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by Aidil Syukri

The results of the recent by-elections that has went to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) way has done enough to heighten the turbulent times faced by Pakatan Rakyat. Out of the seven by-elections held this year and last in Hulu Selangor, Sibu, Galas and Batu Sapi, Tenang, Merlimau and Kerdau the Opposition only managed to win in Sibu. So, it would not be an exaggeration if I was to conclude that past by-election results has strengthened the assumption that the turmoil among Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), PAS and DAP has worsened.

However, if we were to analyze all the by-elections held after the infamous March 8, 2008 General Election (GE), we could see that almost all the seats that Pakatan did not manage to win in are in the rural areas. For this reason, perhaps we can’t fully rely on these past by-election results to predict the outcome of next GE. Besides, there’s still the Sarawak state election coming up and its outcome may give a better indication on how GE13 is going to turn out. But the more prevailing question would be whether Pakatan would still be relevant as GE13 approaches. And observers are already saying that it’s going to happen in the first quarter of next year.

From how things are going, I am willing to bet that Pakatan will not be able to capture Putrajaya. Not only that, I bravely say that they are going to lose one of the states that are currently under their administration. To me, it seems almost like a mission impossible for Pakatan to regain their momentum given the fact that they have failed to deliver their promises they had made during GE12.

The reason for me saying so is, for one thing, I could see that people now are fed up with the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim’s game. Since their impressive performance in GE12, he has made too many mistakes and people are getting sick of him. The September 16 allegations, his second sodomy trial and his Umno-Apco allegations which he is yet to provide evidence to prove his claim are just some of the things that is not been making Anwar, in turn, PKR and, in turn, Pakatan look great.

After the political tsunami hit Pak Lah’s (Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) administration, we could see for ourselves how arrogant the Pakatan leaders have become. Perhaps, they had forgotten, or never even realized that, as blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin put it, people voted for Pakatan in the last GE out of hatred for the BN and not for the love of the party itself.

It’s apparent that Pakatan is unable to maintain its initial momentum despite their cunning strategy of doing whatever it takes to get votes to the extent of ‘selling’ their own race. The whole thing about abolishing ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ and upholding ‘Ketuanan Rakyat’ instead was nothing but another way of garnering votes from the non-Malays.

Malaysians nowadays are smart enough to realize the fact that in Pakatan is currently experiencing a crisis of confidence in their abilities and we are see friction among its three component parties that has grown since they signed the pact and basically sold their souls to Anwar. We can see now that the contrast of ideologies between PAS and DAP has taken its toll. Besides this, in the wake of upcoming Sarawak state there has been a dilemma in dividing the seats among  parties in the coalition. Even PAS president Tuan Guru Haji Abdul Hadi Awang did not deny it as he said that Pakatan has an internal problem. This alone is enough to show how hard it is for them to gain consensus.

Meanwhile, in terms of performance in state governance, things are not looking to swell either. The poor handling of flood problems by Kedah’s PAS-run state government and the sand thefts in PKR-ruled Selangor would be two good, or should I say, bad examples of poor state governance.It seems like whenever they are being criticized over an issue they would resort to putting all the blame on BN. Come on lah… Why can’t you just accept your weaknesses instead of continuously blaming others? People can understand that this is just the first term you came to power but people are getting tired of you continuously blaming others for the mistakes you have made.

From what I see, among the three component parties, I would say that PKR has been the the biggest contributor to Pakatan’s downfall. Their questionable party election would be the peak of their crisis that has affected their coalition which saw their former hero, Zaid Ibrahim leaving the party to form his own party, KITA.

There’s still much to be desired from PKR when it comes to paying their dues to Pakatan. They’ve been surviving on their successful manipulation of PAS to gain the Malay support and DAP to gain the non-Malay support, particularly the Chinese. As for the Indian folks, it seems like their ‘Sivaji’ (Anwar Ibrahim) has become the evil politician character in that ‘Sivaji the Boss’ film.
For Pakatan to succeed in improving their image and regaining lost support they must not be overly obsessed with their quest to take over Putrajaya. They must also avoid overly politicizing every single issue that come up and, instead, maintain their focus on damage control. Regaining lost trust