By Boo Su-Lyn
November 30, 2010
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has proclaimed Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to be alive and kicking despite internal strife wracking its component parties.

PKR’s recently-concluded direct polls were plagued with allegations of vote rigging that were mostly highlighted by the losers in the election, while Selangor DAP went through one of its most divisive elections last weekend.

“We are more than alive and kicking and we propose to go forward in our political struggle for Malaysia,” said Lim in his closing speech at the PR mentris besar and chief ministers summit in Shah Alam yesterday.

“According to the mainstream media, there are negative reports about what is happening in Pakatan component parties, and that we are neither dead nor alive,” he added.

Lim stressed that it was crucial to acknowledge the drop in public confidence towards the opposition coalition.

“We do not deny that lately, we have faced problems… like a crisis in public confidence towards us. We have to admit this to turn around our political situation,” said the Ipoh Timur MP.

“This summit is important for a turnaround of Pakatan to restore our political momentum for change,” he added.

Yesterday, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had told PR state leaders to stop acting as the opposition in governing states under their control.

Lim said PR leaders needed to change their mindsets and focus on administering their respective states well, amid intense speculation that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak may call for snap polls as early as the first quarter of next year.

Kit Siang further rallied PR leaders to not only retain their states in the upcoming general election, but also to capture other states.

“More importantly, we must go on the offensive. Johor, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Sabah and Sarawak must be our frontline states in the next general election,” said Kit Siang.

Barisan Nasional (BN) for the first time lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament in 2008. The loose opposition pact of PKR, DAP and PAS won four more states — Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Perak — as well as 82 parliamentary seats.

Today, Kit Siang claimed that the only way for Umno to “reform” was for the country’s largest Malay party to be booted out into the opposition.

“Najib has said Umno will reform. But the only way for Umno to reform is… by sending Umno into the opposition in the next general election,” he added.

Guan Eng, who is DAP secretary-general, also underscored the importance of wooing civil servants in PR’s efforts to run the state.

The Malaysian Insider understands that 30 per cent (420,000) of the 1.2 million in the country’s government service are not registered as voters.

This segment, should they be registered, would be significant in whether BN or PR would form the next administration.

Recently however, Kit Siang warned Selangor DAP that PR might lose Selangor in the next general election if it was not united, reminding the state party convention to learn from PAS’s 2004 loss in Terengganu.

PAS had lost Terengganu in a 4-28 sweep by Umno and BN, reversing its 28-4 victory in the 1999 general election, he said.

Meanwhile, PKR’s fractious polls had culminated with the exit of Datuk Zaid Ibrahim from the deputy presidential race and his resignation from the party.

He had accused the party leadership of condoning electoral fraud and malpractices.

“Only when there is a change of government, can we see a new Malaysia,” said Kit Siang today.

“The next election will be a very important point in the history of Malaysia… when a change of government is accepted as a normal democratic process,” he added.