PAKATAN Harapan leaders today supported Anwar Ibrahim’s reminder from prison that the opposition coalition should remain a pact where all parties and leaders have an equal say.

They recalled that it was this style of governance and the consensus-based system that captured the imagination of voters in 2013 and gave the predecessor of PH, Pakatan Rakyat, 52% of the popular vote in the last general election.

By also relinquishing any claim to being the coalition’s prime minister-designate, Anwar has also made it easier for PH parties to deal with an issue that has bogged them down and wasted precious political capital, several opposition politicians told the Malaysian Insight.

They were confident that Anwar’s message of focusing on the big picture of defeating BN would allow PH to get back on track towards winning over voters.

“It was a magnanimous and commendable decision on the part of Anwar to do this,” said Bersatu supreme council member Dr Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff.

“This allows us to refocus our attention on strengthening our team and to provide a credible alternative for the people in the next general election.”

Political analyst Hisomuddin Bakar said that it was not necessary to name a PM-designate as Malaysians are used to voting for the party and not an individual.

So, whether or not there was a PM-candidate was not as important as a unified, cohesive pact that had something concrete to offer voters, said Hisomuddin on Anwar’s announcement.

“Even if you name a PM-designate and he loses his seat, he still can’t be PM. This is why the coalition is more important in the end,” said Hisomuddin, executive director of Ilham Centre.

In a shock announcement yesterday, Anwar announced that he was no longer interested in becoming the coalition’s PM-designate.

The decision was aimed at reducing the tension that the issue has caused over the past few weeks among PH partners, Bersatu, Amanah, DAP and PKR.

Anwar was said to have been in the running, along with Bersatu chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad and president  Muhyiddin Yassin, as well as Anwar’s wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, as the PM-designates.

The second part of Anwar’s message was a call for PH to maintain its consensus approach to decision-making. His fear was that some quarters were keen on introducing the Barisan Nasional (BN) approach of first among equals.

In BN, Umno charts the discourse and its top leaders occupy the post of chairman and deputy chairman.

PH in contrast, adopts a system where all parties are equal members and decisions are made via consensus at the presidential council.

PH has been criticised for being obsessed with both issues, the tussle over who is PM-designate and the pact’s leadership structure, which has to be submitted to the Registrar of Societies.

The discussion ion these two issues had gone awry, said PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chiang.

“Somehow the debate became about who wants to be PM, but Anwar is reminding us that it was not about that in the first place,” said Chua, also known as Tian Chua.

Anwar’s message was also a reminder that PH was successful in the 2013 general election because it was different from the BN, said another PKR vice-president, Rafizi Ramli.

“The message on the consensus approach was more important than the one about who is going to be the prime minister,” said Rafizi, who is Pandan MP.

“We were successful in 2013 because we offered a different model of governance from BN and because of our policy platform.

Rais Hussin of Bersatu said his party was also committed to a democratic, consensus-based approach in the PH presidential council.

Amanah said that it accepted Anwar’s decision to relinquish any claim to be the PM-designate, but its deputy Salahuddin Ayub said PH would still keep its promise to free Anwar once it gained power at the federal level.

Anwar is currently serving a five-year prison term for sodomising his aide, a charge which he and the opposition claim are spurious and politically motivated. – June 18, 2017.