MCLM wants a single coalition to oust BN

Raja Petra: MCLM has been hard at work with the Sarawak National Party (Snap) in Sarawak and the United Borneo Front (UBF) in Sabah in trying to build an alliance with forces in Sabah and Sarawak.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — The Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) issued a guarantee today that it would work with all opposition parties as a single coalition to oust Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election.

MCLM founder Raja Petra Kamarudin said that the London-based movement would first form a pact with opposition parties in Sabah and Sarawak before forming a cooperation with Peninsular Malaysian parties to ensure straight fight with BN.

“Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan have 57 seats in Parliament. As I said in my earlier article, Sabah and Sarawak are critical to our having a chance of forming a reform government in Putrajaya post 13th general election,” said Raja Petra in an article published by Free Malaysia Today.

“MCLM has been hard at work with the Sarawak National Party (Snap) in Sarawak and the United Borneo Front (UBF) in Sabah in trying to build an alliance with forces in Sabah and Sarawak. We hope in the coming days that we will be able to announce the formation of such an alliance,” he added.

Out of the 57 seats in East Malaysia only Kuching, Sibu and Kota Kinabalu are held by the opposition, DAP. The rest are under BN control, which gave BN the majority it needed in the 222-member Parliament to form the government.

“Should a Snap-UBF-MCLM alliance be successfully forged, MCLM hopes to be able, with its alliance partners, to work out a further alliance with the other non-Barisan Nasional parties in Sabah, Sarawak, and Semenanjung with one objective in mind: to forge a coalition to displace Barisan Nasional in the next election and to install a pro-reform federal government in Putrajaya,” said Raja Petra.

MCLM is scheduled to hold a joint press conference with Snap and UBF which was founded by former PKR vice-president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan who quit the party recently.

“It is hoped that with these alliances in place, straight fights in the forthcoming 13th GE will be assured and that any three-corner contests are Barisan Nasional’s own doing,” said the founder of Malaysia Today political website.

Raja Petra also stressed that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) cannot overthrow BN on its own and must with group such as MCLM.

“Realistically, Pakatan Rakyat cannot do this on its own. In fact, no one political party can do this on its own. What is needed is a collective of all pro-rakyat, pro-reform political parties working together with the Third Force, made up of reform-oriented NGOs and the rakyat who are ready to work for change,” said Raja Petra.

The MCLM had offered four candidates to contest against BN in the 13th general election and plans to introduce 30 before the dissolution of the current Parliament.

The movement emerged after PKR lost six of its MPs who became BN-friendly independents following disagreement with the federal opposition leaders.

The MCLM’s initiative however has not been welcomed by PR leaders, with PKR deputy president Azmin Ali saying that the potential candidates would only be accepted if they are willing to toe the party line.