Many suggestions have been made for a more suitable term than Pakatan Rakyat for the proposed co-operation of KeADILan, DAP and PAS as a follow-up to the March 8, 2008 general election results for the common objective to promote justice, freedom, democracy, integrity and good governance in Malaysia.
When the term Pakatan Rakyat was tentatively chosen, the consensus was to avoid the use of the term “Barisan”.
The term Pakatan Rakyat is subject to the confirmation by the respective leadership of the three parties. Suggestions for a more suitable term than Pakatan Rakyat are most welcome.
Statements issued in the past three days have raised the question whether all the three parties have fully learnt the lessons of the 2001 crisis of the Barisan Alternative, where the DAP had to leave the opposition coalition because of PAS’ insistence to pursue the Islamic State objective, which was not in the common Barisan Alternative manifesto.
These statements include that of the Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yaakub that “Pas wajar menjadi tunjung kepada pakatan itu sekiranya ia mahu merealisasikan impian menubuhkan sebuah Negara Islam”, and the full support given to this statement by Dewan Pemuda PAS Kelantan and the statement by the press secretary to Pas president Roslan Shahir Mohd Shahir that “the values of the Islamic state were already incorporated in the Negara Berkebajikan” and that “In states where Pas is the dominant party, we will try to set up an Islamic state”.
It is clear that the proposed co-operation of the three political parties in a new front in post-March 8 political scenario has to proceed with caution to ensure that all levels of leadership of the respective parties fully understand the basis of co-operation of the three parties which will not lend themselves to inter and intra-party differences and exploitation by political foes, as well as avoid the repetition of the 2001 break-up of Barisan Alternative.