Pakatan Rakyat Convention : Return the 3rd vote to the rakyat

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On Dec 12, 2009

On 6th February, last year, on behalf of all Malaysians, I had sent copies of two documents to all BN component parties and to DAP, PAS, PKR and PSM with the the expressed hope that these parties would adopt the aspirations declared by the rakyat in these documents as the way forward for our nation.

By Haris Ibrahim

These documents are The People’s voice and The People’s Declaration.

By 16th February, 2008, PKR, DAP and PAS, amongst others, had confirmed their endorsement of The People’s Declaration and reiterated their endorsement of the same at the official launch of those two documents one week later.

Holding these parties to their declared endorsement of The People’s Declaration, many of us thereafter worked our socks off, joining the three parties on the election campaign trail to persuade voters to vote for change.

Post the 12th GE, though, nothing more has been heard from the three parties on The People’s Declaration.

On 1st April, last year, PKR, DAP and PAS announced the formation of a new coalition to be called Pakatan Rakyat. At a joint conference to announce this, Anwar said that Pakatan Rakyat pledged to uphold the rights and interests of all Malaysians as enshrined in the Constitution, that the policies of the 5 Pakatan state governments would be in accordance wth the policies of Pakatan Rakyat and that a joint secretariat consisting of three leaders from each party would be tasked with building the foundation and framework of Pakatan Rakyat. Malaysiakini has the story HERE.

In June, this year, Zaid Ibrahim joined PKR. Some 3 months later, in announcing his taking a 6-month break from the PKR politburo, Zaid disclosed that he had been working on a common policy framework for Pakatan Rakyat. I reproduce here excerpts from Zaid’s press statement, as reported in Malaysiakini.

“I joined PKR because of my interest to try and put together a common policy platform for Pakatan Rakyat. This common policy framework for the coalition of the three parties, PKR, DAP and PAS respectively, are now in the final stages and I expect to submit the policy framework to the leadership of the respective parties next week. That being said, a lot more work has to be done in understanding the concerns of the members and the rakyat. A lot more work still needs to be done to provide a cohesive foundation for the coalition and this involves meeting various leaders and members of the respective parties. With the Pakatan Rakyat Convention due to take place in December 2009, I need time to finalise the policy framework which hopefully will be approved by the leadership of the respective parties…I only want to be a facilitator to bring about the realisation of a strong, credible and united opposition — an opposition with a strong leadership, sound common policies and structures to be a meaningful alternative to Barsian Nasional. Only a strong united opposition can restore democracy in this country and can provide good policies to the people. We must move beyond the BN bashing and sloganeering stage. Only clearly defined policies and a united leadership of Pakatan Rakyat can convince Malaysians that we are a suitable choice for the rakyat. I hope that from my meetings, dialogues and discussions with the members of the three parties at all levels, the dream of a united opposition can be realised”.

Zaid’s draft common policy framework has been despatched to the leadership of the three Pakatan parties for their consideration. The matter of the common policy of the coalition is now due to be deliberated upon at their convention on the 19th of this month.

What’s in Zaid’s draft and, more importantly, how much of the aspirations of the rakyat as is reflected in The People’s Declaration have been incorporated in that draft?