MALAYSIA is heading towards an election mainly because of the expiration of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the government and opposition and the precarious position of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

On Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) side, the battle for the PKR number two position is largely focused on the contrasting stances taken by Rafizi Ramli and Saifuddin Nasution on the “big-tent” election strategy.

Rafizi has rejected the strategy because of the betrayal that PH suffered at the hands of Bersatu, PAS and Umno. Saifuddin’s stance is more conciliatory. 

DAP and Amanah are more inclined towards Rafizi’s view.

Amanah’s Mohamed Sabu and DAP’s Lim Guan Eng have poured cold water on the idea of cooperation by stating that PH cannot work with Bersatu and PAS.

The big-tent approach encourages the formation of a united but ideologically mismatched opposition against the incumbent in the hope of toppling the latter.

Despite the overwhelming two-thirds majority Barisan Nasional (BN) achieved in the Johor elections,  the coalition actually gained less than 50% of the vote, while PN and PH’s combined vote share slightly exceeded BN’s.

Take, for example, the seat of Kemelah won by BN. The coalition won 7,518 votes against PH’s 5,907 and PN’s 4,639.

There is also another reason for the opposition to close ranks: it actually works, or at least it did in 2018!

While it is arguable whether the opposition’s inclusion of Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Bersatu had tipped the balance in favour of PH in the last election, the fact that PH component parties and Bersatu did not split the vote for the opposition was crucial in delivering the former its first election victory.

It is reasonable to believe, following the opposition’s successive, crushing defeats in three states, that a rejuvenated BN could only be defeated by the same formula.

However, the idea of a big-tent approach where the only common aim is the defeat of BN is also detrimental to a future PH government.

A big tent as an electoral strategy should take into account what happens after an election win and when it is time to govern.

In 2018, the big-tent approach failed miserably and ultimately led to the untimely demise of PH.

The “Sheraton Move” was the culmination of an ugly power struggle of 22 months and it all stemmed from the fact that the PH component parties were never ideologically suited.

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin removed Bersatu from PH because he believed the party would lose relevance it did not return to a more Umno-like approach to politics and governance.

While PKR leaders Anwar Ibrahim and Mohamed Azmin Ali were not the best of political friends to begin with, their relationship only began to truly decline after Dr Mahathir gave the economic affairs portfolio to the party no. 2.

This created the impression that Azmin was more loyal to Dr Mahathir than to party president.

The power struggle between PKR and Bersatu further intensified when every political appointment and move made by then prime minister Dr Mahathir was seen to be sabotaging PKR and dishonouring his agreement to step down to make way for Anwar.

The bitter power play in PKR led Azmin to seek Muhyiddin’s help to prevent Anwar from succeeding Mahathir as prime minister. The rest, as they say, is history.

The big-tent approach will not work so long as the opposition chooses to participate in coalition politics in pursuit of individual interests.

Dr Mahathir’s constant reminder that the PH manifesto was merely a guide and not a “Bible” whittled away at the trust between the partners. While PKR, DAP and Amanah may have common grounds in policies, Mahathir and Bersatu joined PH with the only intention of toppling Najib Razak’s BN, not BN per se.

Since Dr Mahathir wished to disband Umno, Bersatu’s main motive was to poach Umno members and eliminate Najib and Umno president Zahid Hamidi.

It is not far-fetched to say that Umno and Bersatu are more ideologically aligned with each other than they are with PKR, DAP and Amanah.

Therefore, it is best that PH and PN continue to compete against each other while also aiming to unseat BN from government, because past experience has shown the big-tent approach to do more harm than good. – May 1, 2022.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.