Is Pakatan Rakyat in Sarawak breaking up?

This appears to be so after DAP issued its Pakatan Rakyat partners in Sarawak an ultimatum on July 21 this year, threatening to quit the coalition if PAS and PKR refused to declare their stand on the implementation of hudud in Malaysia.

While Sarawak Pakatan chief Baru Bian did declare PKR’s stand on the issue, not only outside as well as in the state assembly, PAS refused to do so. In fact PAS is said to be not bothered if DAP quits the coalition.

Now, three months have passed since the ultimatum was issued, and the situation in Sarawak Pakatan is very quiet.

Asked about the DAP ultimatum, Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng, who is also the MP for Bandar Kuching and Kota Sentosa assemblyperson said:  “The state DAP's decision to quit Pakatan at the state level stands.

“So far, our state committee has not met to reverse it. All official communications and activities among the three parties have stopped since then, with talk of seats overlapping (in the coming Sarawak state election) have not been carried out.”

The last talks on seat overlaps were held before the last Sarawak state election in 2011.

Baru ( right ), who is also Sarawak PKR chief, confirmed that there had been no meeting for some months among the three parties, with their last meeting held in May 2014.

It is now the turn of PAS to call for a meeting, he added.

Infighting a concern among the people

With less than two years to go before the next Sarawak state election, the general public are concerned that the three parties may be fighting among themselves.

This, those hoping for a change in government fear, would undo the battles against the state BN parties - Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).

Perhaps their consolation is that the BN parties such as SUPP have to fight its offshoot United People’s Party (UPP) in 19 seats that have been allocated to SUPP, while SPDP may face its offshoot Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) in eight Dayak majority seats.

“This is likely to be the scenario in the coming state election. Even support for BN will be deeply divided, and this will give DAP a better advantage in the Chinese majority seats and PKR in Dayak and Malay/Muslim majority seats,” said a political observer.

“However, it could be better if the three parties combine their resources to challenge the State BN, as they did in the 2011 state election and in the 2013 parliamentary election,” he said.

The observer pointed out that the combined forces of the Sarawak Pakatan had led the  opposition in the state to win 15 state seats in the 2011 state election and six parliamentary seats in 2013 general election.

“It will be a sad day if DAP, PKR and PAS cannot cooperate with one another in the spirit of Pakatan Rakyat in the coming state election as this will be the best opportunity for them to win  more seats, given the infighting over seats between SUPP and UPP and SPDP and Teras,” he added.

For DAP, with or without PKR and PAS, it is well prepared for the next state election. In fact since the last state election, it made inroads into the rural constituencies through its ‘Impian Sarawak’ projects.

New DAP branches in rural areas

A number of DAP branches have been opened in the rural areas, including in the native Muslim constituencies.

Although Chong ( left ) refused to reveal the number of seats DAP may contest, it is certain it will contest all the Chinese majority seats that are allocated to the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) as well as some Dayak and Malay majority seats.

As the MP for Puchong and DAP national leader Gobind Singh Deo told a recent gathering of DAP members and supporters in Mambong, Kuching: “In the next state election, we hope to see Sarawak DAP led by YB Chong  getting more seats.

“It is hoped that DAP’s victory here will initiate change and further inspire us in Peninsular Malaysia in the next parliamentary election.

“Sarawak DAP’s victory can influence a political tsunami in the peninsula.”

Of course DAP’s victory  alone in Sarawak  is not enough to bring ‘ubah’ (change) to the state administration, not to mention any takeover of the Sarawak government, without a united Sarawak Pakatan Rakyat.

Nevertheless, any increase in the number of DAP elected representatives will surely keep the state government on its toes.