Malaysian Opposition - Is the Coalition Done For?

Our class at Democratic Action Party briefing with Theresa Kok and Ong Kian Ming

One of the most interesting things to watch during our meetings with political leaders from both UMNO and the opposition parties was their discussion (or lack of discussion) with regard to the break in the opposition coalition that occurred just prior to our arrival. The split was made public on Tuesday, June 16 and we arrived on July 6. 

Fahmiya mentioned in her post about Malaysian politics that the coalition was made up of the PKR (People's Social Justice Party), DAP (the majority Chinese Democratic Action Party), and PAS (Party Islam). Two events led to the dissolution of the coalition, according to most commentators.

1. Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of PKR, former UMNO leader and beloved by many, was sent to jail on sodomy charges and became unable to run for office again. Fahmiya talked about this somewhat, but another piece of this that I heard was that Anwar was also said to have helped to be the glue for the coalition, able to work with all of the partners.
2. PAS came out in support of hudud law, moving further to the conservative right and pushing a bill that would allow the strict Islamic law to be implemented in states where it was agreed upon by a majority of the electorate. The DAP was very much against this bill and could not work with PAS any longer. PAS had been a more moderate Islamic party but after leaders were reshuffled in the recent party elections, they moved towards more conservative positions. 

Within PAS, there was also some disagreement between different factions. The more conservative PAS members were the ones who pushed for more and more conservative reforms, and may be moving towards working with UMNO on more conservative Malay-Muslim issues. The more moderate parts of PAS were unhappy with the coalition split and the direction of their party. 

While we were in Malaysia we visited with each of the opposition parties. The PAS leader we spoke to  (who happened to be the brother of the UMNO leader we spoke to) said that the moderate members of PAS were working on a split off to form their own party, the New Hope or Amanah party. If they were successful and could attract enough members from the current PAS membership, they would replace PAS in the opposition coalition. He was quite adamant that this process was happening.

Theresa Kok and Ong Kian Ming, of the Democratic Action Party, were less willing to predict whether the coalition would form again after the PAS split. Similarly, Anwar's daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar, was hesitant to say that the New Hope party would be a part of a future coalition. 

Recently it was announced that the New Hope Movement was to form a party called Amanah, which means "trust" in Bahasa Malaysia. It is said that 70% of PAS in some states may join the new group. We'll have to wait to see how this affects the opposition coalition.

Betsy
2nd year ID