SARAWAK DAP has often been derided by the state government and state Barisan Nasional (BN) politicians with the put-down that being in opposition, it can well afford to promise the world without having to worry about making good on any promise with any action.
At least the strongest component in the Sarawak Pakatan Rakyat is now making some headway by walking the talk and showing it can take action that may not be in the best interests of the opposition alliance although clearly benefiting the state DAP.
State DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen recently went public with a political break from both its allied parties, Pas and PKR. In so doing, the Sarawak DAP is asserting its political autonomy from the party at national level and showing admirable leadership.
This occurs even while Pakatan is still picking up the pieces after recent ructions, in particular the ill-starred leadership succession conundrum relating to the Selangor state government which exposed deep divisions within the tripartite alliance.
Pakatan may have little choice but to paper over the ideological chasms threatening its very cohesion for the sake of keeping the prize of governing the states it currently controls. It must know that without at least a semblance of political unity, retaining those states — let alone capturing Putrajaya — in the next general election may become lost causes.
What then to make of Sarawak DAP’s declaration of independence not just from its own national body but from Pakatan altogether? Chong explained that the state party was moved to break its ties with its allies because of Pas’ insistence on hudud implementation and PKR’s dilly-dallying over the same issue.
Chong held up the hope that Pakatan may be whole again in Sarawak if the “progressive” wing in PAS gained the upper hand within the party’s leadership in future. The Sarawak DAP leader must have calculated that the hudud debate has become too much of a millstone around the neck of the state party and that if he did not bite the bullet now and be rid of this particular burden, it may well sink the party’s chances come the state election that will have to be called in about a year or so.
Self-interests clearly won out for Sarawak DAP, especially when Sarawak Pas is already the weakest link in Sarawak Pakatan as to be almost a political non-entity.
The calculation for Sarawak DAP would also have been that with new Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s soothing political pronouncements for and on behalf of the state, Pakatan’s political thunder is in danger of being stolen in the run-up to the state election, if it has not already been stolen.
DAP in Sarawak therefore will not want to be in the unenviable position of political double jeopardy — its long-standing positions being undercut on the one hand by the state BN and on the other by Pas’ unyielding position over hudud implementation.
Then there is the not insignificant matter of seats allocation for the state election, always a sticky and highly contentious problem especially between the state DAP and PKR as both claim the mantle of being multiracial parties in a state with very fluid lines of ethnic identity and political affiliation.
With the break-up of the state Pakatan instigated by DAP, is the party also hoping to reap handsomely by fielding candidates in areas traditionally the preserve of PKR? With the recent setting up of a new party by renegades from BN’s SUPP, is the state DAP calculating that the timing is particularly opportune for it to break out of its mould as a Chinese-based party by making successful inroads into Bidayuh-majority constituencies held by SUPP before? If so, will PKR take this lying down and concede contentious Bidayuh areas to DAP? Or will there be a merry, multiparty free-for-all by both BN-aligned and Pakatan-aligned parties for these seats, with the end result all but impossible to predict one way or the other?
As well, what are the likely implications of Sarawak DAP’s break with Pakatan at the national level? Superficially, it can only make Pakatan’s efforts at putting on a show of political cohesion and unity that much less convincing.
Convinced that the last general election represented its best hope of making it to Putrajaya, Pakatan was then prepared to bury important issues it could not agree upon in hopes that winning Putrajaya would magically let those issues stay buried. Alas, some skeletons simply refuse to stay buried.