Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim ... who will lead, if Pakatan wins federal power, if he is convicted and jailed? – Picture by Choo Choy May
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 – Pakatan Rakyat (PR) national leaders admitted today the opposition bloc has yet to discuss a “succession plan” should Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim be convicted of sodomy again.
Anwar had claimed this week in a speech at Johns Hopkins School of International Studies in Washington that the opposition was making plans for the future in case he dies or is convicted.
Should the PR wrest federal power, it is generally agreed between the component parties, with the possible exception of PAS, that the PKR de facto and parliamentary opposition leader will be prime minister.
The lack of ideological commonality, or even communication, between the three component parties makes the succession plan extremely important as Anwar has been the factor which holds the frail coalition together.
PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub told The Malaysian Insider that the pact will discuss this matter at a PR convention scheduled for either late this month or early November.
Salahuddin, who sits on the newly formed PR secretariat representing PAS, said that the convention will also, among others, seek to quickly identify and establish a PR ideology.
So far, nothing concrete have come out of the various meetings that have taken place.
And observers have noted that working out a succession plan would be an uphill task.
One of it is the DAP and PAS factor. Though recently declaring truce over a host of sensitive issues, many remain skeptical that the two can iron out their differences especially on the unresolved issue of the Islamic state.
“There is distrust among the two parties on various issues so one can imagine, in Anwar’s absence, how will DAP and PAS work out on who takes charge next?” said a PR insider who did not want to be named.
Outspoken DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang, who has been very critical of PAS in the past, however, is more optimistic.
Speaking to The Malaysian Insider today, the Ipoh Timur MP said the proposals to structure PR should be taken as a sign of the pact’s reduced reliance on Anwar.
“The effort to formalise the coalition shows that. We will meet in Parliament soon to strengthen the coalition,” said Lim.
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