By Niza Shimi
There’s so many new political coalitions forming that it will be a strange 15th general election (GE15) for Malaysian voters, whenever that will be. Since its historic win in GE14 in 2018, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition has even spawned more coalitions.
The 2018 elections seemed so clear-cut in comparison. It was a simple message; Vote PH if you want a change from the 60-year rule of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Indeed, BN was toppled, sending a message that no coalition is sacred.
But within two years, the PH coalition suffered an internal disruption when Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Pribumi) backed out in the infamous Sheraton Move. The move saw Bersatu forming a new coalition of sorts, the strange chimaera is known as Perikatan Nasional (PN) to form the new government.
The strangeness of PN, loosely formed from Bersatu, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), would morph again when Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (Bersatu) was replaced with Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (UMNO).
It’s a long story that makes Malaysians even more worried about the stability of coalitions. When political parties form coalitions, do they even agree on the same ideals or is it just a marriage of convenience? Or is it a case of instant noodle coalitions, ready in two minutes?
It would seem like the PH coalition that won GE14 was a union of inconvenience with repressed true feelings about each other. Were they being honest with each other? Were promises made among former political rivals to come together against a common enemy really for real?
Was Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the anointed PM then, willing to pass the PM-ship to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the first place, as was supposedly promised? If Tun M wasn’t too willing, why did he agree to it? Was he being a hypocrite about it? The voters, rightfully, feel cheated.
It has to be said, in my opinion, that the worst coalition ever devised has to be PN. Not just because it was supposedly formed to avert a constitutional crisis arising from the Sheraton Move but because it was in the midst of an unprecedented global COVID-19 pandemic. Who could have planned that?
Now in PN, you have UMNO at odds with Bersatu and with peacemaker (or not) PAS trying to appease the two. Of course, Muhyiddin isn’t happy. He was living the life of “Abah the saviour” as PM8 until he was rudely interrupted by a loss of confidence. His seat was barely warm, as they say.
So now what do we have? PN will be campaigning for GE15 without UMNO which will campaign firmly under the BN flag despite ministers who seem pro-PN. PAS will campaign under PN but is the Muafakat Nasional (MN) agreement between PAS and UMNO still alive?
PH will be Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) with Democratic Action Party (DAP) until the decision is made to admit Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) and Party Socialist Malaysia (PSM).
Then we have the Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA), Tun Mahathir’s newly formed coalition, comprising Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), non-governmental organisations and others. Interestingly, all are members of Pejuang. A new flavour of instant noodle coalition perhaps?
If coalition partners can’t even agree with each other, how can they govern the country? There could be political parties waiting to see who wins before deciding which coalition to join. That could give them better bargaining power as kingmakers perhaps.
Voters will need to be more discerning. It could really boil down to a choice between which instant noodle stays firm in hot water or which turns to mush.
Niza Shimi is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav.
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