Seat tussle shows Pakatan’s lack of unity and respect

Pakatan Rakyat’s tussle over seat for the upcoming general election will risk their reputation as it shows the coalition’s lack of unity and respect towards its leadership, political analysts say.

In a recent interview with The Mole Prof Dr Ahmad Atory Hussain from Universiti Sains Malaysia Social Science Studies Faculty said Pakatan’s tussle is something that should not be taken lightly by voters.

Ahmad said: “They have been fighting for not only one seat, but more in recent months. The latest squabble in Johor and Kedah only proves to us that the coalition lack understanding with each component parties.”

“Secondly, it is quite worrying to think that even the coalition members did not respect the Pakatan leadership’s decision on seat allocations for them.”

It has been reported that Pakatan had tussles over seats in Johor and most recently in Pas-led Kedah.

Prior to this, both DAP and PKR in Johor have been at loggerheads over the Gelang Patah and Bakri parliamentary seat which is at present held by DAP's Er Teck Hwa.

Recently it was reported that Kedah DAP had demanded for two parliamentary seats and six state states and that the party will be contesting against Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Barisan Nasional if their demands to Pakatan leadership are not met.

Ahmad said these tussles may be the downfall of Pakatan in the 13^th General Election as it had happened to Barisan Nasional in 2008.

When asked on what caused such tussles, Ahmad said: “This is because Pakatan has no concrete guidelines on election matter, be it on seat allocation or their candidates.”

“This is what happens when all you have is an ad hoc guideline,” he added.

Ahmad also described the act of several Pakatan leaders including the DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang who will contest in different seat as an act of escape from a losing battle.

“It appears to me that these leaders only want to rescue themselves to become an MP (member of parliament) at all cost,” he said.
 
It is announced last month that Lim  who is DAP Parliamentary leader will be contesting in Gelang Patah, from his current seat in Ipoh Timur a move that is seen to pacify both DAP and PKR.

Meanwhile another political analyst Jeniri Amir said Pakatan had shown to people that it is incapable of running the government especially when it fails to address the internal tussle over seat in the upcoming election.

“Any mature party will not allow such cases to come to public knowledge especially when the election is looming,” Jeniri said.

“This tussle will leave a negative impression to voters. They will think, how can we trust them with our national issues if they fail to resolve their issues in private?”

Jeniri said if Pakatan fails to resolve the seat tussle issue immediately, it will show that the coalition lacks unity and political strategy to win the election.