Pakatan Leadership Acknowledges Rallies Won’t Last

In an article published on The Malaysian Insider, a senior Pakatan Rakyat leader speaking on condition of anonymity has admitted that Pakatan's tactic of public rallies will soon run out of steam.

"What can I say? How many times can we expect our supporters to come out for these rallies? Eventually, this anger will fizzle out and we must move on," the official said.

"The fact of the matter is that we are not the government of the day and, yes, we do recognise the election results, despite what some of our leaders are saying."

It couldn't be any clearer. And perhaps of equal importance is the fact that the comments suggest that Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's views on the matter are not widely shared among his colleagues at the top of Pakatan Rakyat.

The fact that the article appeared on the Opposition-friendly portal is another sign that the prospects are looking bleak for Anwar's vision of a "nationwide protest tour".

The Choice noted last week that another similarly aligned portal to MI, Malaysiakini, took Pakatan leaders to task for failing in their responsibility of providing a credible alternative in the run up to GE13.
The M'kini article noted in particular how Pakatan leaders had misdirected their resources during their campaign. Now after May 5, those same leaders seem to be misdirecting their attention once more.
Yet even Anwar appears to be acknowledging the futility of the situation, albeit slowly.

This week the Opposition leader led a press conference in which he moved to distance himself from the more militant core of Pakatan aligned NGOs that are promoting an even more chaotic and violent outcome.
"These are just suggestions and it was never raised to the leadership and it is not something that is adopted by leadership," he said.

Were those curious rolling hand gestures at Bersih just a suggestion too?
Anwar has chosen the wrong path following his election defeat. Instead of gracefully bowing out and aiding the process of reconciliation, he has decided to sow further division among the rakyat.

But increasingly his lieutenants are abandoning him – publicly and anonymously. Soon he'll be alone in his quest to "continue this struggle" and "never surrender".