Pakatan biting off more than it can chew

Pakatan Rakyat launched an ambitious manifesto but its leaders were cagey about how many seats they would win to control Putrajaya.

RAFIZI Ramli had been sleeping on the floor of his office the last few nights in a mad rush to put the finishing touches to the Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto.

Despite the sleep deprivation, the chubby and pint-sized PKR politician, who is the key person behind the manifesto, cut a confident figure on stage as he presented the document when it was launched during the Pakatan Convention in Shah Alam yesterday.

It does not promise the earth and the sky as in their last election manifesto but it is still a highly ambitious document that aims to match and outdo their rival Barisan Nasional.

It was basically a fine-tuned version of the Buku Jingga and as some pointed out, the manifesto will go down well with supporters of DAP and PKR and less so with those from PAS since it makes no mention of PAS' Islamic State ideals.

In fact, PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang who spoke on behalf of his party during the convention, sounded like a man on a ship which had lost its anchor and his speech was more of a ceramah than a speech of what PAS stands for in the Pakatan set-up.

PAS members may think that Hadi is prime minister material but when placed next to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Hadi looked like he belongs in the old world.

He cannot speak English, all his references whether social or economic go back to the days of the Holy Prophet and he looked out of place in the largely secular crowd in Shah Alam.

How seriously are voters going to take the latest manifesto given that the Pakatan states have been unable to fulfil their previous promises?

PKR secretary Datuk Saifuddin Nasution admits that their last manifesto was drawn up for the sake of having a manifesto.

This time around, he said, the team handling the manifesto had been working on it the last year.

It was also quite clear that their target group is the younger generation of voters and many of the proposals were aimed at this group especially those about to start a family. This group is also among the first-time voters and it is an open market there.

The document is basically telling the voters that they can offer what Barisan is offering and even more.

Yesterday's gathering was the fourth Pakatan Convention since the political tsunami.

Many of those who turned up were probably expecting a rah-rah atmosphere given that this, as Saifuddin put it, is the closest that the opposition has come to challenging Barisan for power.

But the convention was surprisingly sober and quite a contrast to the carnival atmosphere when Kedah played host last year.

Anwar adopted a statesmanlike stance, and steered clear of any big talk of capturing power. In fact, he urged everyone not to be over-confident and stressed that humility is very important in politics.

Some thought that his words were aimed at DAP whose head has grown bigger than its body because they are so cocksure of Chinese support.

Besides, as everyone knows, PKR and DAP are having problems over seats in Johor, Perak and Penang.

And despite their purpose of taking over Putrajaya, none of the Pakatan leaders were willing to be drawn into predicting how many seats they can possibly secure to form the federal government.

During his speech, Anwar heaped praised on the leadership of Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat. He also praised Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng although not in as gushing a tone as that for Nik Aziz.

Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was third on his praise-list which was read by some as a slap on Khalid's wrist given that Selangor is supposed to be PKR's show-state.

But Anwar sort of left out Kedah for praise or mention and the conclusion was that Pakatan has given up on Kedah which is mired in a host of issues ranging from the environment to a PAS leadership struggle in the state.

Of all the Pakatan states, Kedah is in greatest danger of falling. Kedah is a big state with a lot of seats that were won by narrow majorities.

If Pakatan does not hold on to Kedah, then its dream of federal power is going to burst like a soap bubble.

Nevertheless, Anwar is being projected as the seventh prime minister of Malaysia when he appears at ceramah venues especially in Penang.

He is working overtime on the cera­mah circuit so much so that he appeared at one wearing a sandal on one foot and a shoe on the other.

He was quite embarrassed but he quite sportingly took them off and moved around the stage barefoot.

The stakes are great for Anwar.

He has much to gain if Pakatan does well but if Pakatan fails, he will lose more than his shoes.

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