THE uncertainty over the opposition’s “big tent” concept is likely to persist till GE15, said political analysts.

And going by the PKR congress, it’s unlikely to be formed, they added.

“This is the major point of contention in the Pakatan Harapan bloc now,” said Ilham Centre executive director Mohamad Hisomuddin Bakar after watching the 16th PKR national congress in Shah Alam today.

“Will PKR continue to negotiate with other opposition parties or close the door and face multiple cornered fights in GE15?” said the pollster.

He said the lead PH party continues to grapple with the issue after views from its top two leaders highlighted their differences.

Shortly after PKR president Anwar Ibrahim delivered a policy speech about keeping Pakatan’s options open, his newly elected deputy Rafizi Ramli told reporters that the grassroots had rejected the idea.

“The party election sums up the grassroots sentiments that they don’t want any big tents,” said Rafizi after Anwar’s speech.

According to Hisomuddin and other political pundits, PH is unlikely to repeat their 2018 success if they don’t partner with other parties following heavy defeats in two consecutive state elections.

At the Malacca and Johor state elections, Barisan Nasional won easily and regained two-thirds control of the state assembly after Pakatan was easily defeated due to the multi-cornered fights.

In Johor for instance, BN was able to win 40 out of the 56-seat assembly with just an additional 4% vote. During the 2018 elections, BN only won 16 seats while Pakatan won 36.

But after the emergence of a third coalition, Perikatan Nasional, the opposition vote was split and Pakatan could only defend 12 seats.

Big tent going nowhere

Universiti Malaya’s Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi also feels that there will be no big tent for the opposition.

“It’s better to do a grand coalition after elections. As it is, all the parties think they are popular and are making all kinds of demands, even the small parties.

“If that’s the case, they might as well only form a big tent after GE15,” said the political science lecturer.

Pointing to what had happened in 2020, the Sarawakian said pre-election collaborations are meaningless.

“Although Bersatu had contested and won under the Pakatan group and PKR logo, it split after less than 22 months and brought down the government,” said Awang Azman.

“What guarantees are there that such a situation will not be repeated?” he questioned.

The lecturer pointed out that political parties in the Scandinavian countries such as Sweden or Denmark only formed coalition governments after elections and not before.

“Let the winners of the next elections decide this. It’s a very dangerous precedent when smaller parties lead the government.

“For example, Bersatu leading the government (2018-2020) although PKR had more MPs. What happened then was that the smaller party overthrew the bigger party by taking their MPs,” said Awang Azman. – July 16, 2022.