Sarawak News- Found on mysarawak.org. Posted on Friday, July 3, 2009 - 0 Comments

Kedah PR coalition facing collapse

Split in ruling opposition alliance of PAS, DAP and PKR due to lack of a firm understanding

ALOR SETAR: Like a crack awaiting total split, that is the view of analysts regarding the position of the PAS-led opposition coalition ruling Kedah now.

The state government, led by PAS state commissioner Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak as the menteri besar, is seen as fragile with PAS and the DAP are often quarrelling among themselves.

The height of the discord was reached when the state DAP decided to leave the coalition, claiming that the PAS leadership was insensitive and failed to resolve various problems of the people.

Kedah DAP chairman Thomas Su said the weak PAS-led state government often raised racial problems including the 50 per cent Bumiputera housing quota.

Azizan reacted by describing the state DAP action as overruling the decisions of the party’s top leadership.

He said the political scenario in Kedah was not the same as in other states as the local culture and issues were different.

“I don’t understand what the DAP wants. The DAP always says that everyone must respect the law but at the same time the DAP tries to protect people who break the law,” Azizan said referring to an unlicensed pig abattoir in Kampung Berjaya here that was demolished by the state government.

Azizan said if the DAP were not interested in being part of the state government it was for the apex leadership of the party to decide.

Political analyst Dr Sivamurugan Pandian told Bernama that the split in the coalition of PAS, the DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) was actually due to the lack of a firm understanding among themselves.

He said that what was happening in Kedah was seen as having many issues among them remaining unresolved and that their leaders were not mature yet to form a government.

Sivamurugan said due to excessive politicking they may have forgotten about the people’s welfare that needed to given priority.

He said the biggest problem was that each state led by the three party coalition had a different perspective and they did not have a comprehensive understanding.

As an example, he said the Selangor state government’s perspective was from a PKR angle, in Penang from the DAP’s and in Kedah it was PAS’.

— Bernama