Pakatan’s pending voyage of discovery

Although it has become common to acknowledge that a two-party system has emerged in Malaysia after the unprecedented setbacks faced by the Barisan Nasional coalition in the 12th and 13th general elections, recent events show that there is a long way to go before that concept can be said to have taken root in the country’s democratic system.

No doubt, the opposition parties had set aside their visceral differences to form an electoral pact in the run-up to the 12th general election in 2008. And following the surprise gains that they made in that election, the DAP, PAS and PKR showed much promise as a new political force when they came together to form the Pakatan Rakyat coalition in order to establish the state governments in Selangor, Penang, Perak (at that time)  and Kedah – besides Kelantan, which was already being administered by PAS.

With five states under their control, it did seem for a while that Pakatan was on its way to becoming an alternative to the entrenched political infrastructure created by Barisan.

Certainly, the groundswell of support for the opposition parties was an unmistakable sign that the people had become impatient to change the patronage of the ruling government for a new brand of politics that does not take voters for granted. At the same time, no politician worth his salt would be blind to the fact that voters would be looking for signs that the opposition coalition was intrinsically cohesive before they would be convinced about backing its bid to take power at the federal level.

Subsequently, it seemed that Pakatan only needed to build on a common policy platform, grow its grassroots machinery, attract enough talent and avoid the pitfalls that Barisan had fallen into to ultimately inherit the mantle of power from a political establishment that was showing serious signs of dysfunction.

Since the sea change in voter sentiment in 2008, however, the Pakatan grouping has come under severe strain on a number of fronts that collectively pose questions about its viability as an alternative federal government.

The well-aired conflict between DAP and PAS over the notion of Malaysia as an Islamic nation versus the supremacy of the secular Constitution is perhaps the most divisive of the issues that foreshadow the unmaking of the Pakatan Rakyat. Not that the cluster of issues around this theme does not impact the Barisan Nasional too, but the dominant role of Umno in the coalition means that dissonance in the ruling coalition is very much muted in comparison.

The Islamic nation controversy illuminates the difficulties confronting Pakatan in its efforts to establish an inclusive political institution that can govern Malaysia’s diverse population without falling back on the self-defeating divide-and-rule paradigm that has become the default political culture particularly in recent years.

Far from clearing the way to build a race-blind, religious-blind society, DAP and PAS, which have been at loggerheads for decades over the establishment of a shariah-oriented administration, could only agree to disagree on the matter in 2008 when it was expedient to announce the formation of Pakatan Rakyat as an emergent coalition bedecked with a string of states under its control.

This is just not good enough, as demonstrated by their endless bickering over a slew of inter-ethnic and inter-religious issues that have bubbled up of late. Since the 12th general election in particular, the many difficulties between shariah and secular institutions show that the overlapping of theocratic and secular jurisdictions is an inherently problematic proposition.

So, it is almost inevitable that a political coalition that juxtaposes secularist and theocratic parties will become undone when it comes to the crunch. This is clearly the story of Pakatan’s journey until now.

To conceptualise a political system that can survive the competing pressures of secular and theological worldviews, there is effectively no alternative to the separation of religious and state powers. The lessons of history, from the church-state relations of Medieval Europe to the record of contemporary Islamic states, are quite clear on this score.

This means that Pakatan parties have to embark on a voyage of discovery to chart new territory that circumvents potential whirlpools of conflict in a multi-cultural society. Only when it has mapped the extent of this new sphere can it present to voters a workable alternative model to the current one that pits one group against another in a perpetual cycle of acrimony.

It is necessarily a work in progress, explored one area at a time, with each emerging issue between individuals, institutions and society in a variety of combinations pointing to gaps that need fixing, rights that need acknowledgment and duties that must be performed.

To expect an overnight alliance forged in the heat of an electoral triumph to withstand the assault of a political establishment that has been in control for over five decades is in itself wishful thinking. Perhaps, it may even entail a deconstruction of current political parties and coalitions to allow new thinking about contentious issues to freely emerge.

This is a work to be undertaken for the long term, with the interests of the coming generations in mind.

Whatever transpires at the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council meeting on Sunday, where PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang is expected to make an appearance after a full year, it cannot be expected to resolve such a fundamental issue that goes to the heart of power relations, socio-cultural pluralism and concepts of justice and equity, among other things.

Rather, Pakatan leaders may give themselves some breathing room if they merely acknowledge that their mixed marriage is on the rocks. – February 7, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.