LAST year, DAP leader Liew Chin Tong predicted correctly that Pakatan Harapan would not be a one-term government – either it would last two terms or half a term.

Liew, a former deputy defence minister, was proven right when PH was toppled in a bloodless coup in late February.

Six months later, Liew declined to predict when PH would return to power or how long its rival Perikatan Nasional would last.

But Liew offers this insight – the shape of the next federal government after the 15th general election will be unlike anything that has come before in Malaysian political history.

There will be no more one-party rule, like how Umno used to dominate the Barisan Nasional coalition.

The prime minister will not automatically emerge from one party – like all six former Umno presidents – but will be a candidate agreed upon by a coalition of parties, said Liew.

PH created this “new normal” in politics and it is also a reflection of where the coalition is today, he said.

The old structure of one-party rule is over and future of politics resembles PH but the coalition itself struggles to provide a path forward.

PH is three seats shy of a parliamentary majority that would return it to power but it cannot agree with allies Pejuang and Warisan on who the prime minister will be.

Other PH leaders, Khalid Samad and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, said the coalition is still pursuing the elusive three seats while aggressively keeping PN in check.

But they admit the PM candidate is a hurdle for the coalition and its opposition allies.

“The political impasse is not just in Pakatan. Perikatan is facing the same challenges as seen in how Bersatu and Umno are constantly fighting for control in the government,” said Liew, the DAP’s political education director.

Because Umno has been so used to calling the shots among its allies for its entire political life, it struggles to accept that it is in a government where it is not the prime minister and deputy prime
minister, he said.

PH has an advantage in this new political landscape of equally strong parties working together in a coalition but it still struggles because such a dynamic is still new.

“Malaysia has not developed a political culture or a structure to replace one-party rule because ever since independence that is all that we’ve had,” Liew said.

“It is a culture that has to be ingrained in all political parties and also in the civil service, in civil society and among voters. It is not something that is done overnight.”

3 more seats

After the collapse of its administration, PH was left with three parties – PKR, DAP and Amanah.

PH ministers-turned-coup architects, Azmin Ali and Muhyiddin Yassin, went on to form PN with former rivals Umno, PAS and Sarawak alliance GPS.

To try to wrest back power, PH is in an informal pact called “Pakatan Plus” with Warisan and Pejuang – which is made up of former Bersatu MPs loyal to ex-PH prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Pakatan Plus currently has 109 Mps on its side while PN holds a razor thin-112 majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

PH nominated PKR president Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister while Warisan and Pejuang want Warisan president Mohd Shafie Apdal.

Amanah communications director Khalid said the coalition has not given up the quest to take back Putrajaya as it feels responsible for restoring the voters’ mandate in GE14.

“The question is how do we get the extra three? We are still actively pursuing this quest even though we don’t talk openly about it. We are also responsible for keeping the government in check,” said the Shah Alam MP.

Khalid said Anwar’s camp and Dr Mahathir’s faction in Warisan Plus are both searching for the magic three and once that happens, negotiations will restart on the choice of PM.

“But while this is happening, we are getting ready for a possible snap GE15 and we are playing our role in Parliament.

“At the grassroots level, we have instructed our members to start their machinery and collect data for the general election. The Slim by-election is a good way to warm up our engines.”

PKR organising secretary Nik Nazmi said it’s not easy to topple a sitting prime minister and government but PKR believes it has to be done.

“We in PKR believe in playing both roles – to take back our mandate and to be an effective opposition. We will also campaign aggressively to help our partner Warisan to retain Sabah,” he said, referring to the state elections on September 26.

“We have to be a check on power while trying to return to power,” said the Setiawangsa MP. – September 1, 2020.