COMMENT With all the infighting within Pakatan Rakyat, one cannot be faulted for thinking that perhaps replacing BN at the federal power is still a distant scenario.

 

Over the last two general elections, the Anwar Ibrahim-led opposition bloc appeared to be inching closer to Putrajaya.

 

In 2008, Pakatan denied the ruling coalition, for the first time in history, a two-third majority in Parliament and seized control of several states.

 

In the following national polls five years later, BN lost the popular vote.

 

Opposition supporters reveled, smelling victory in the air whereas their rivals were nauseated by the lingering stench of defeat.

 

BN is riddled with problems, chief of them being the future of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who is now facing a brewing rebellion within Umno. Whereas, the component parties are on life support, fighting to remain relevant.

 

Contrasted against this backdrop, it would appear that Pakatan is on the verge of capturing the administrative capital.

 

But alas, it seems that the opposition’s greatest obstacle is not BN but itself.

 

Despite being a coalition of strange bedfellows, the three parties have been held together over the years by Anwar and the voters’ growing disdain for BN ensured their respective electoral gains.

 

However, the 67-year-old leader is now on the threshold of landing in prison again should the Federal Court uphold his sodomy conviction.

 

Apart from Anwar, there is no other personality with the charisma or clout to ensure cohesiveness in the opposition bloc.

 

In his absence, Pakatan parties might turn on each other, resulting in the coalition imploding, and reducing the aspirations of its supporters to nothing more than rubble.

 

Recently, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang painted a bleak picture, wondering aloud if Pakatan would remain intact until the next general election.

 

And with the hudud imbroglio resurfacing, his premonition might come true.

 

History repeats itself

 

Malaysians who yearn for change are now vexed with Pakatan over its internal turmoil, which seems to be worsening.

 

The leaders appear powerless or unwilling to bridge the fissures, while those in BN continue to plunge the daggers, hoping that the opposition would bleed to death.

 

Previously, Barisan Alternatif - an earlier version of Pakatan - disintegrated in 2001 when DAP and PAS crossed swords over the latter’s theocratic goals.

 

Despite the damage control attempted by some, it is clear that the irreconcilable differences between these two parties are threatening to obliterate Pakatan as well.

 

Bolstered by the outcome of the last two general elections, perhaps those in the opposition have allowed their egos to be inflated to the point of exploding.

 

As and unless an amicable resolution is reached, where leaders of all three parties learn to set aside their differences, cease their backbiting and backstabbing, Pakatan would continue to tread on thin ice.

 

The question is whether the next election would sound the death knell for Pakatan or would the opposition bloc commit political suicide even before that.

 

Hence there is a need for a third force in Malaysia to emerge, instead of relying on the same old characters and parties which would eventually squander a golden opportunity given to them.

ANANTHA KIRISNAN is a keen political observer.