By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, Dec 3: Pakatan Harapan (PH) is disintegrating because it has no more common foe or bogeyman, said political observer Datuk Peter Minos.
According to Minos, before the 14th general election, PH was truly united because of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“But now it is now it breaking up because there is no more Najib. When the whole lot of PH – PKR, DAP, Bersatu and Amanah – had a common foe and bogeyman in Najib, they were really solid and united. They met and talked like lovers.
“For example, they would organise demonstrations together and they would also suffer together in the hands of the previous demonstration. They were harassed, hit left, right and centre. And they were humiliated as well. But they stood solidly together. And they helped and consoled each other and they really fought Najib together like best of friends and comrades,” Minos said in a statement today.
However, 18 months after taking over Putrajaya, he stated that the PH coalition, especially PKR, had started to disintegrate.
“The latest intrigues in the party is that there are expulsions of its members and internal squabble in the party’s top leadership. And this could possibly lead to some top leaders boycotting the party’s coming convention. And there is a possibility of parallel conventions between party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his deputy, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, camps,” he said.
Minos said if that happened, then it would be open warfare between the two camps which could eventually split the party in two.
“And all because Anwar cannot “jaga” (look after) his party well, it could result in the Anwar-Azmin irreconcilable rifts. And why does this thing happen? It is because of the absence of their common foe,” he said.
For the DAP, Minos believed that it was breaking up due to misadventures and arrogance.
“DAP pushed the peninsular Chinese away by playing the fool with Chinese education issues, in particular cutting funds to Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC), a university so dear and needed by the Chinese community.
“Why DAP, in particular its secretary general Lim Guan Eng, treated it that way we cannot really know. Most likely because of his uncontrolled bias or hatred of its political rival MCA, which had started and ran TAR UC.
“But it is too late for DAP to make amends as the recent Tanjung Piai by-election has shown. It was a case of pure self-destruction or self-demolition,” he said.
Minos pointed out that DAP had been too subservient to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad which he claims has irked the Chinese community.
“But behind it all, as is the case of PKR, DAP has no more Najib to fight against and so it has started to make terrible mistakes. No more bogeyman to hit. No pressure or fear to unite them. So, they turn towards themselves and make common blunders,” he said.
Minos observed that however, the smaller allies in PH namely Bersatu and Amanah appeared to be stable.
“But they must be pretty worried about what is happening with their big brothers DAP and PKR. But what can two small brothers in the PH family do? Nothing actually except to watch and see them imploding. Like looking at a fast-running train losing its brakes and heading for a big crash and tragedy,” he said.
He opined that the only person who would gain from the internal bickering in PH was Dr Mahathir.
“The only person who may, will benefit from the problems and travails in PKR and DAP is Dr Mahathir. Worse comes to worst, he may just meet up with BN and PAS, plus MCA and MIC and unite and form a new government
“This could happen because if Dr Mahathir could team up with past foes in Anwar and Lim Kit Siang, there is no reason why he can’t patch up with old BN. That is politics and that could actually materialise,” he said. —DayakDaily
