KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 ― The new opposition alliance PAS plans to form next week with an unnamed partner is not likely to achieve the Islamist party’s goal of hurting Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional’s (BN) chances at the ballot boxes the next federal polls, observers said.
Political analysts told Malay Mail Online that this so-called third force would create barely a ripple in the country’s political landscape as the 14th general election will remain either Pakatan Harapan’s or BN’s to win.
Associate Professor Dr Jeniri Amir said at most, the new alliance could steal some votes from Pakatan Harapan.
“Yes, PAS's new pact can split the (opposition) vote… might deceive some voters in GE14 (14th general election), but the impact is going to be nothing on Pakatan Harapan and BN.
“If you ask me, it is just a dream and PAS is not going to go anywhere with this as the party is more interested in championing its own agenda with this as the party is more interested in championing its own agenda after falling out with PKR and DAP,” the Universiti Sarawak Malaysia senior lecturer told Malay Mail Online when contacted.
For analyst Khoo Kay Peng, PAS’s latest maneuver was just the Islamist party’s way of flexing its muscles to show its former allies in the opposition that it was doing just fine on its own.
He said, however, that while PAS is free to do as it pleases, starting a new opposition bloc is “politically unnecessary” and akin to putting the cart before the horse.
The analyst said the party should first set its priorities and political goals right before forming an alternative pact to Pakatan Harapan, the alliance it refused to team up with due to its failure to close ranks with its former allies in the DAP.
“In Selangor, PAS is working with PKR, DAP and Parti Amanah Rakyat (Amanah) and on the federal level, (PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul) Hadi (Awang) is seen to be somewhat aligned with Umno… I think the party is little confused at the moment,” he said.
On how PAS’s new pact would impact Pakatan Harapan, Khoo agreed with Jeniri and said Pakatan Harapan would remain BN’s main contender in the next general election.
Professor Dr Shaharuddin Badaruddin, who said he was surprised by PAS's announcement, echoed the sentiment, saying a new pact was not going to change much in the current political scenario.
“They (PAS) can do whatever they like but in the end, I only foresee Pakatan Harapan as the only opposition coalition going heads on with BNl in the next election,” the political science lecturer from Universiti Selangor said.
Yesterday, PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said PAS will form a new opposition pact with an unnamed party ahead of the next general election. The unnamed party, he said, will be revealed on March 16.He added that the new bloc will compete against the Pakatan Harapan pact comprising DAP, PKR and Amanah, a PAS offshoot.
PAS was formerly one of three parties in the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact that denied BN its two-thirds majority in Parliament twice, once in 2008 and again in 2013.
PR fell apart last year owing to disagreements between PAS and DAP over hudud, among others.THE MALAY MAIL ONLINE
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