If you didn't know that there was a party called Parti Bersama Malaysia, well, there is.
It has at least one member — party founder and president Tan Gin Theam — and Tan just handed over the party’s registration certificate to Rafizi and Nik Nazmi at the PJ Performing Arts Centre a few hours ago. (Sunday, 17 May)
Why did Rafizi and Nik Nazmi take over an existing party instead of starting a new one?
Well, because starting a new party is not a simple and straightforward process in our country — you can be stuck in limbo for years. Just ask Urimai, for example, the party of the former Deputy Chief Minister of Penang Ramasamy, which has yet to be registered even after being formed years ago. It even had to go to court to get itself registered, but still to no avail.
Considering that, and considering that the general election might be held very soon, if Rafizi wants to participate in it, he needs to head a party ASAP. So it goes without saying that taking over an existing party is definitely the smarter move than starting a new one.
So now that Rafizi has taken over a party, what can we expect to happen?
Well, the first thing we can expect is that Rafizi and Nik Nazmi are going to be expelled from PKR at the earliest possible time.
After they are expelled, will their seats be declared vacant and by-elections be called?
This is something I am not very sure of. According to the anti-hopping law, an MP’s seat will only be declared vacant if they leave their party, not if they are expelled by their party. If Rafizi joins a new party and PKR expels him because of it, did Rafizi leave PKR or did PKR throw him out? I foresee that this might be a question we will be arguing over in the next few days.
Other than that, we can also expect another coalition to form in our political landscape. Just recently, MUDA made overtures to Rafizi, so we can predict that MUDA and Parti Bersama Malaysia might form a coalition to challenge the dominance of PH and PN in our national landscape. There might be other parties involved too, but I will go out on a limb and say that, at the very minimum, a third coalition that includes MUDA and Parti Bersama Malaysia is in the making.
Another question that might require an answer is what the eight or so PKR MPs aligned with Rafizi are going to do. Are they going to leave PKR and join Rafizi’s Parti Bersama Malaysia immediately, or are they going to stay put in PKR until Parliament is dissolved? This is also something we will have to watch closely in the near future.
Last but not least, we are also going to have to see what PH is going to do to counter Rafizi’s latest move.
Rafizi taking over a party is a grave threat to PH. Despite its unpopularity, PH can still expect to win the next election if it is a straight fight between PH and PN. Even in a three cornered fight between PH, PN and BN, there is a good likelihood that PH might win. But with Rafizi joining the fray, PH supporters who are deeply frustrated and disappointed with the coalition will now have another option, and the number of PH supporters who are deeply frustrated and disappointed with PH is not small — in fact, it is likely bigger than the number who are still fully loyal to it.
Considering that, by hook or by crook, Anwar and PH will have to do something to address Rafizi’s decision to take over Parti Bersama Malaysia today.
They have to, like their political lives depend on it — because their political life does depend on it.
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