Pakatan Rakyat or PR (Template:Lang-en is an informal Malaysian political coalition. It currently controls three state governments while in opposition to the ruling Barisan Nasional at the federal level.
Pakatan Rakyat | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Anwar Ibrahim Lim Kit Siang Abdul Hadi Awang |
| Founded | April 1, 2008 |
| Preceded by | Barisan Alternatif |
| Headquarters | Petaling Jaya, Malaysia (DAP & PKR) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (PAS) |
| Membership |  People's Justice Party (PKR) Democratic Action Party (DAP) Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) |
| Ideology | Social democracy |
| Parliament: | 89 / 222
|
| State Assemblies: | 244 / 576
|
The political coalition was formed by the People's Justice Party (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP), and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) on April 1, 2008, after the 12th Malaysian general election, having previously formed the Barisan Alternatif (Alternative Front) in the 10th general election. On April 20, 2010, the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) officially joined as a member of the Pakatan Rakyat after being expelled from Barisan Nasional, but quit the coalition on May 6, 2011.[1]
The former three parties had worked together in the 12th Malaysian general election, in which they gained control of five state assemblies and made significant gains at the federal level, denying the Barisan Nasional a two-thirds majority in the federal parliament. With the establishment of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, the state governments of Kelantan, Kedah, Penang and Selangor are known as the Pakatan Rakyat state governments. Perak was also under Pakatan control, but in February 2009 3 Pakatan state assembly members switched allegiances to independent members who supported Barisan Nasional, causing a constitutional crisis that, following the judgement of the federal court, resulted in Barisan Nasional taking power.
In the recent 2013 general election, Pakatan Rakyat managed to increase its share in Parliament by additional seven seats and for two consecutive general election, denying two-third majority of Barisan Nasional. Pakatan Rakyat also increase its power in Pulau Pinang and Selangor. However, it lost another state to Barisan Nasional (Kedah).
Pakatan Rakyat is to be collectively led and managed by all constituent parties and pledges to uphold the rights and interests of all Malaysians. Each political party in People's Alliance has its own ideology; PKR promotes its ideals that revolves around social justice and anti-corruption themes, PAS with its aim to establish Malaysia as a nation based on Islamic legal theory and DAP with its secular, multi-racial, social democratic ideals.
History
The Pakatan Rakyat is a maturing development of the concept, of Barisan Alternatif (English: Alternative Front), that was created during the election campaign of the 10th Malaysian General Election in 1999. Barisan Alternative was the banner and policy position document which a group of Malaysian opposition political parties (DAP, PKR, PAS, PSM, MDP and PASOK) endorsed and coalesced around for that election.
In the 2008 general election (12th Malaysian General Election), PKR, DAP and PAS had also won 41, 73, and 86 seats, respectively, in various state assemblies.
As of 2009, Pakatan Rakyat remains an informal coalition yet unregistered with the Malaysian Registrar of Societies (ROS). They claim that Malaysian law only allows the registration of a coalition comprising seven parties or more.
In October 2009, the ROS stated that Pakatan Rakyat could formally register as a coalition, as "The condition does not apply to political parties as they enjoy a national status. Only [a] state-level organisation aspiring to become a national entity needs to have seven members from the states."[2] On 9 October 2009, Lim Kit Siang announced that Pakatan would seek to register itself as a formal coalition in light of this clarification.[3] On 4 November 2009, Pakatan Rakyat officials told the press that they had submitted a formal application to the ROS, naming Zaid as the chairman of the alliance.[4] PKR MP and Information Chief Tian Chua publicly denied this, saying the coalition had not yet decided on a constitution, logo, or leadership structure. In February 2010, Pakatan Rakyat claimed it had made a fresh application to ROS as “Pakatan Rakyat Malaysia” because the name ‘Pakatan Rakyat’ is still being registered and processed under Zaid Ibrahim’s name as the pro-tem chairman.[5]
By law, the ROS cannot consider any other application that has the same phrase in it, and has asked Pakatan Rakyat to file a fresh application. In November 2011, Pakatan Rakyat appointed PAS central committee member Kamaruddin Jaafar to make a fresh application, but RoS director-general Abdul Rahman Othman claimed Kamaruddin had never approached his department. Abdul Rahman said that the ROS has no problem in approving Pakatan’s registration and that he could not refuse a request made by any MP.[6]
Zaid had issued a statement on Pakatan Rakyat's ideology, stating that in government, it would introduce anti-discrimination laws, set up a social safety net, establish a new education policy aimed at producing competitive graduates, especially among the Malays and Bumiputra, repeal the Internal Security Act and Printing Presses and Publications Act, amend the Official Secrets Act and Sedition Act to limit the government's power, and reform law enforcement institutions like the courts, the Royal Malaysian Police, and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. Zaid also said that the proposed anti-discrimination law would not require the repeal or amendment of Article 153 of the Constitution.[7] Zaid has also request Dato' Nik Aziz to become the chairman of Pakatan Rakyat instead of Anwar Ibrahim (PKR) or Hadi Awang (PAS). In November 2010, after a six-month leave from PKR over undisclosed reasons, Zaid Ibrahim quit PKR, causing the People’s Coalition to remain as an informal coalition.
In the 2013 general election (13th Malaysian General Election), the still unregistered Pakatan Rakyat won the total number of votes but due to Malaysia's First Past The Post democratic system - a system is used in Canada, UK, and most USA states - lost to the Barisan Nasional who won 133 of the 222 Parliament seats and 275 of the 505 State seats.[8] To this day, PKR, DAP, and PAS continue to platform different ideologies within the framework of respect and consensus by their top leaders.
Policies
Pakatan Rakyat basic framework policies are:
- Transparent and genuine democracy
- Constitutional nation and rule of law
- Separation of power
- Free, clean and fair election system
- Driving a high performance, sustainable and equitable economy
- High skill economy
- Decentralisation and empowerment of the states' economic management
- Affirmative policy based on requirements
- Labour
- Social protection network
- Housing
- Infrastructure and public facilities
- Environment
- Social justice and human development
- Solidarity and social justice
- Religion
- Education
- Women and family institutions
- Youth
- Security
- Health
- Culture
- Federal-State relationship and foreign policy
- Federal system
- Sabah and Sarawak
- Foreign policy
Pakatan Rakyat further their policy through the introduction of 'Orange Book', also known as Buku Jingga, which outlining the policies together with Pakatan.
Frontbench Committees
On 2 July 2009, Pakatan Rakyat announced a list of its Members of Parliament who would shadow individual ministries. DAP Member of Parliament Tony Pua stated that this front bench would explicitly not be a Shadow Cabinet because the Malaysian Parliament does not recognise the institution of a Shadow Cabinet.[9]
Component parties
People's Pact General Chief: Yang Berhormat Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (Opposition Leader)
- Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, PAS)
- Democratic Action Party (Parti Tindakan Demokratik, DAP)
- National Chairman: Yang Berhormat Karpal Singh
- Secretary-General: Yang Amat Berhormat Ketua Menteri Lim Guan Eng
- Parliamentary Leader: Yang Berhormat Lim Kit Siang
- People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Keadilan/PKR)
- President: Yang Berbahagia Datuk Seri Datin Dr. Wan Azizah binti Wan Ismail
- Opposition Leader/De facto Leader: Yang Berhormat Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Elected representatives
Dewan Negara (Senate)
Senators
- Muhammad Yusof bin Husin (PAS)
- Saiful Izham bin Ramli (PKR)
- Dr Johari bin Mat (PAS)
- Hajah Khairiah binti Mohamed (PAS)
- Dr Ariffin Omar (DAP)
- Syed Shahir bin Syed Mohamud (PKR)
- Dr Syed Husin Ali (PKR)
- Chandra Mohan a/l S. Thambirajah (DAP)
Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives)
12th General Election Elected Members of Parliament
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13th general election elected Members of Parliament
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Pakatan Rakyat state governments
Pakatan Rakyat general election results
- All-time highest values are bolded
| Election | Seats up for election | Seats contested by party | Contested seats lost | Total seats won (Change) | Total votes | Share of votes | Outcome of election | GE Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 222 | 215 | 133 | 82 ( 61) | 3,796,464 | 36.9% | gained 61 seats, Official Opposition | Wan Azizah Wan Ismail |
| 2013 | 222 | 222 | 133 | 89 ( 7) | 5,624,011 | 50.87% | gained 5 seats, Official Opposition | Anwar Ibrahim |
See also
References
- ^ SNAP quits Pakatan
- ^ "ROS: Pakatan can register as a single party". Malaysiakini. 2009-10-08. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Pakatan Rakyat to register as a coalition". The Malaysian Insider. 2009-10-09. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Zaid to helm Pakatan Rakyat". Malaysiakini. 2009-11-04. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Ghazali, Rahmah (2009-11-05). "No decision on 'Zaid to lead Pakatan', yet". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Loo, Susan (2011-11-10). "RoS denies Pakatan filed new bid to register". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 2011-11-10.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Lau, Leslie (2009-08-10). "Zaid outlines blueprint for Pakatan government". The Malaysian Insider. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ http://keputusan.spr.gov.my/#home
- ^ Pathmawathy, S (2009-07-02). "Pakatan forms 'cabinet' committees". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Titiwangsa MP Dr Lo’ Lo’ dies. The Malaysian Insider. Retrieved 2011-7-19