Islamist Party is a Key Factor in M’sia Opposition Equation

Asia News Network

10 September 2015

Malaysia’s opposition has been in disarray since the June break-up of the seven-year-old Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance, which only two years ago pushed the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition almost to the brink of defeat in the 2013 general election.

The seemingly ineluctable tussle over Islamic criminal law, or hudud, caused an acrimonious falling out between the secular Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), leaving third component People’s Justice Party, or Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in the unenviable position of having to decide on the make-up of a new opposition pact.

The DAP is backing the newly- formed Parti Amanah Negara, comprising moderates who left PAS in recent weeks, to replace the Islamic party as the politically necessary Malay-Muslim lynchpin in a reconstituted PR.

… “PAS’ stranglehold in the ‘Quran Belt’ is indeed hard to wrestle over. Amanah can at best appeal to the more urbanised folk who are more progressive and open-minded. But these urban constituencies are outnumbered by their rural counterparts,” said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

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