The Malaysian Insight

NOW that PAS and Umno have formalised their political cooperation at the Islamist party’s annual congress last week, does this change anything for Umno’s partners MCA and MIC?

The pact has not prompted the ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian components of Barisan Nasional to leave the coalition that has shrunk to three parties.

MIC chairman S. Vigneswaran said Umno’s, and by extension BN’s cooperation with PAS, is not necessarily a bad thing because of the support the Islamist party received in the 14th general election, even if Pakatan Harapan managed to form the federal government.

“PAS’ support in GE14 should not be underestimated. As long as it is beneficial to MIC, Umno-PAS cooperation is not a bad thing,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Vigneswaran also referred to the time PAS was together with DAP and PKR in the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

PAS was able to draw support from Chinese and other non-Muslim voters, he said, and this spoke of its ability to cooperate with non-Muslim parties.

He noted how PAS “helped” DAP win more parliamentary seats when both were allies under PR. In the 2008 general election, DAP won 28 federal seats, up from 12 in the 2004 elections.

“I don’t see any reason not to cooperate with PAS. Past data tells us that cooperation between the opposition parties can win more seats,” said Vigneswaran, who is also president of the Dewan Negara.

He added that PAS’ help was effective for BN in the Cameron Highlands, Rantau and Semenyih by-elections this year, where the Islamist party cooperated with Umno.

“In the 15th general election, the opposition parties should cooperate with one another.”

The 65th PAS congress last week endorsed a motion for the Islamist party to work with Umno officially, an important milestone from its initial agreement to cooperate on an ad hoc basis following BN’s trouncing in GE14.

Vigneswaran, however, said PAS and all BN parties should now sit down formally to discuss their future.

Check and balance

For MCA, its vice-president Ti Lian Ker said the ethnic Chinese party would play a “check and balance” role in the Umno-PAS alliance.

MCA, in the past, has faced flak for not taking a tougher stance against Umno’s Malay supremacist agenda, but Ti said there was no need to take a fighting stance against PAS.

It is more democratic to allow differences of opinion in attempts to reach a consensus, he said.

“It’s not a war but a democratic process. We can differ or agree on issues. There are times we can cooperate and times that we may fight over issues.

“MCA should not just focus on Umno cooperating with PAS, but on how we can supervise. If they deviate, MCA can supervise and correct it.”

Ti also said MCA was in a mirror situation with DAP in Pakatan Harapan. This was because the Malay-Muslim parties in PH, Bersatu and Amanah, are focused on the Malay agenda which is no different from PAS and Umno.

“Amanah is also an offshoot from PAS and Bersatu, an offshoot of Umno. Now Amanah and Bersatu are defending the Malay agenda. Isn’t this the same as PAS and Umno? Why is DAP not correcting this?”

Ti also criticised DAP for not intervening in the government’s decision on retaining the Bumiputera quota system for public universities.

MCA was willing to work with DAP on education issues, such as providing opportunities to non-Malay students, he said.

“Can we not cooperate for the interests of the people instead of making the annihilation of MCA the ultimate political goal?” – June 27, 2019.