The unravelling of events in Pakatan Rakyat is just too perplexing to let go without comment.

First was DAP’s decision to sever ties with PAS president Hadi Awang over his insistence to implement hudud without consultation and consensus with other partners in the coalition.

Then during the recent PAS muktamar, there was a resolution passed by the muktamar to sever ties with DAP.  However, since the resolution, some PAS leaders have openly declared that the party is still in the coalition.

Now the MB of Selangor, Azmin Ali of PKR, has said that the party welcomes the formation of PasMa as a political party which has implicitly declared its intention to replace PAS in the Pakatan coalition.   

As problems within Pakatan become more acute and protracted, various quarters have come up with proposals to reconcile their differences. Some have suggested that DAP should first retract its decision to sever ties with Hadi. Then, in return, there was a suggestion that PAS should retract its resolution to sever ties with DAP.  There was also a proposal that PKR will play a mediating role to bring PAS and DAP together.

But I think all these suggestions and proposals are no solutions at all. Certainly we have missed the wood for the trees. DAP severing ties with Hadi and PAS severing ties with DAP are mere symptoms not the causes. Similarly, PasMa replacing PAS is no solution unless PasMa is fundamentally different from PAS in core principles and policies.

This may sound a little silly, but I think in the midst of endless arguments and squabbles, Pakatan coalition partners might have forgotten the genesis of their problems, which is the disagreement over hudud and perhaps ultimately over theocracy and Islamic state.

To me this is the mother of all problems within Pakatan. It does not matter whether it is Hadi or the resolutions to sever ties with each other or PasMa replacing PAS. The fundamental issue is how the coalition partners choose to see the future of Malaysia - does the coalition want an open, liberal and secular Malaysia or a conservative, conformist and theocratic state?

It is just too impractical and dangerous for each Pakatan coalition partner using its own core principles and ideals to attract members and supporters based on these differences. How could members and supporters attracted for different reasons and ideals work together as a team toward attaining a common aspiration?

I think it is time to settle this fundamental issue once and for all. It is no longer feasible to leave this issue vague and on the ‘agree to disagree’ basis. Coalition partners must agree to core policies and principles and openly and unequivocally declare they will adhere to these policies and principles. There shall be no turning backing or wavering based on expediency, treachery or circumstances.

Put simply, the coalition partners of Pakatan should come together because they have a common aspiration for Malaysia, not because they need each other to win election. Pakatan can then win elections to oblivion. So, sort out first that common aspiration, the rest can wait.