PRM in the Media - Small parties battle the odds, 13/9/2013 (Star)

Parti Rakyat Malaysia

The party was initially founded in 1955 and enjoyed a strong spell as part of the Barisan Socialis in the early 1960s.

However once that coalition broke up PRM lost its impact. It eventually merged with Parti Keadilan Nasional in 2003 to form Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

A number of dissidents revived the party which is now led by Datuk Dr Rohana Ariffin.

 

We are in support of a proportional voting system as suggested by our president Datuk Rohana Ariffin. - Zulkarnain Abdullah

Zulkarnain Abdullah, a central working committee member of the Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) has devoted a lot of his life to the party and remains very committed to its cause despite dwindling numbers and results.

"PRM has been having casual talks with other parties, but it has not gone deeper," he said.

"Nothing has been finalised, although our congress is likely to be in November and further discussions could take place then. PRM stayed out of the general election, because the party was in a similar situation with PSM, we were denied seats to contest by Pakatan.

"At the same time our mission is to challenge Barisan rule. We gave in to avoid three corner or four corner fights."

The "new" PRM acknowledges that with the current system it will be very hard for the party to make an impact.
 

"We are in support of proportional voting system as suggested by our president Datuk Rohana Ariffin, " said Zulkarnain.

"We are those in the party who opposed the merger. We have no regrets, we know our move is right and strongly feel that PKR's struggle is not ours."

"We admire other smaller parties for continuing to pursue this difficult journey, but of course our links are to parties that fight for the people on the same platform. We are on the left wing. We are not close to small parties on the right wing."

"Similarly we don't identify with parties like Gerakan or PPP who also strayed from their original struggle but now find themselves as small parties within Barisan."

 

 

Nation

Published: Friday September 13, 2013 MYT 3:43:00 PM
Updated: Friday September 13, 2013 MYT 5:46:13 PM

Small parties battle the odds

by martin vengadesan

(From left): PSM secretary general S. Arutchelvan, PCM Vice President Huan Cheng Guan and PPP assistant secretary general Datuk Simon Sabapathy.

PETALING JAYA: When the Kuala Besut by-election was held in July within weeks of GE13, it confirmed what many media observers suspected ... the Malaysian public is down with election fatigue.

Conversely though, in the aftermath of the closely-fought general elections, parties within the two major coalitions, Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, are now firmly focused on preparing for internal elections.

And the secondary business of running government of course.

But aside from the big guns in Malaysia, there exist many other parties, either those outside by two main coalitions, or in some cases submerged within a coalition as a negligible party.

The situation is slightly different in Sabah and Sarawak where not all traditional peninsula heavyweights have a foothold, but by and large the choice for these smaller parties seems to be either to push for a merger with a larger one, or continue a lonely road with little hope of long term success.

Yet at the same time the Registrar of Societies has just announced that it has approved 20 new political parties, comprising 11 from Sabah, five from Sarawak and four from the peninsula.

But why bother joining a small party when the first past the post system makes it so difficult to be heard effectively?

We spoke to some of the people involved as to why they continue to be members of a party that is struggling on the sidelines.

Parti Socialis Malaysia

Founded in the late 1990s by some former members of PRM and grassroots activitists, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) was only formaly legalised after GE13.

Its candidate Dr Michael Jeyakumar famously defeated MIC President Datuk Seri Samy Vellu in Sungai Siput in 2008 and defended the seat in May of this year.
 

However on both occassions he had to contest under the Parti Keadlian Rakyat logo and three way fights involving PSM and its supposed allies in Pakatan for state seats in Kota Damansara, Jelapang and Semenyih left a sour taste in the mouth.

PSM secretary general S. Arutchelvan admits that the party is not happy with how it was treated.

"The party is still re-thinking its relationship with Pakatan Rakyat." he said

"We share a common goal of replacing Barisan with a more just government. However, during the last elections we were not treated fairly and the response to our request to join Pakatan appeared to be either negative or it was ignored," he told The Star Online.

"Our congress in June indicated that one of the avenues we will look at is to build a left-wing coalition, possibly with Parti Rakyat Malaysia, NGOs and individuals. However the party is still working on a blueprint that is yet to be finalised."

While its grassroots work and clean reputation work in its favour, it appears many other politicians are wary of the potential growth and impact of PSM, a party which is notable for a strong commitment to ideology.

It remains to be seen if PSM can continue to operate in its current position as a neglected distant cousin of Pakatan Rakyat.

Parti Rakyat Malaysia

The party was initially founded in 1955 and enjoyed a strong spell as part of the Barisan Socialis in the early 1960s.

However once that coalition broke up PRM lost its impact. It eventually merged with Parti Keadilan Nasional in 2003 to form Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

A number of dissidents revived the party which is now led by Datuk Dr Rohana Ariffin.

 

We are in support of a proportional voting system as suggested by our president Datuk Rohana Ariffin. - Zulkarnain Abdullah

Zulkarnain Abdullah, a central working committee member of the Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) has devoted a lot of his life to the party and remains very committed to its cause despite dwindling numbers and results.

"PRM has been having casual talks with other parties, but it has not gone deeper," he said.

"Nothing has been finalised, although our congress is likely to be in November and further discussions could take place then. PRM stayed out of the general election, because the party was in a similar situation with PSM, we were denied seats to contest by Pakatan.

"At the same time our mission is to challenge Barisan rule. We gave in to avoid three corner or four corner fights."

The "new" PRM acknowledges that with the current system it will be very hard for the party to make an impact.
 

"We are in support of proportional voting system as suggested by our president Datuk Rohana Ariffin, " said Zulkarnain.

"We are those in the party who opposed the merger. We have no regrets, we know our move is right and strongly feel that PKR's struggle is not ours."

"We admire other smaller parties for continuing to pursue this difficult journey, but of course our links are to parties that fight for the people on the same platform. We are on the left wing. We are not close to small parties on the right wing."

"Similarly we don't identify with parties like Gerakan or PPP who also strayed from their original struggle but now find themselves as small parties within Barisan."

Parti Cinta Malaysia

Formed in 2009, when the Barisan/Pakatan dynamic began to be clearly defined, Parti Cinta Malaysia did not do very well at GE13 and there is talk that it could be closed. PCM Vice President Huan Cheng Guan strongly denies this saying "we are currently low profile but we will definitely soldier on."

In response to claims that PCM was doing nothing more than making police reports about controversial Facebook posts, Huan who was formerly MP for Batu Kawan from 2004-2008 when he was in Gerakan said "I want to make it very clear that those reports were made as part of my NGO which is called Sensible and Ethical Malaysians United Troopers (Semut) not under PCM."

PCM is truly about those determined to save Malaysia said Huan, who nonetheless lost his deposit when attempting to retake Batu Kawan in May.

Parti Kita

Sad to say, the whole Parti Kita fiasco is an example of what can go wrong with a new party.

Former minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim (pic) dramatically left UMNO in 2008 and was welcomed with open arms by PKR.

But he became embroiled in a power struggle, and quit in a huff to launch Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air, better known as KITA in Dec 2010.

Within a year the new party began to come apart and nearly descended into farce as various camps claimed control of the party.

We can't get any response from official numbers or Facebook, but Zaid did confirm to us two weeks ago that he remains an ordinary member but no longer holds office in KITA.

Kimma

Amir Hamzah Abdul Rajak, is secretary-general of the Kongres Indian Muslim Malaysia (Kimma). Kimma, he said, was founded in 1976 to fight for the rights of the Indian Muslim community.

"Since 2010 it has been an associated party of UMNO. Even though dual membership is not permitted we are part and parcel of Barisan Nasional."

"Kimma occupies a unique position, because usually among Barisan supporters, those whose religion is Islam are Malays in UMNO, those whose language is Tamil are in MIC, but Kimma is a party that can reach those whose religion is Islam, but whose language is Tamil."

He feels that Barisan is not yet ready to transform itself into a single multi-racial party, and there is still a need for special interest groups.

"Indian Muslims may be a minority group, but it is a large minority group. We do support Umno but our struggle is different, we want to uphold the culture and community. Many think Indian Muslims are very rich but that is 5-10%, many are par or below par level.

The distribution of wealth is not equally done and we have our causes to reach out. To defend the people's right to medication, education and housing, while holding on to our language and religion."
 

Indian Progressive Front

Formed after a split in the MIC which led to the late Tan Sri M.G. Pandithan pulling out and forming a grassroots party, IPF initially enjoyed some growth as part of the Gagasan Rakyat coalition that challenged in the 1990 general election. However it slowly seems to have lost its relevancy.

IPF President Datuk M. Sambanthan

IPF President Datuk M. Sambanthan disputes this claim. "We have been struggling for 24 years and we are not giving up now. We supported Barisan Nasional, but MIC has opposed our direct entry all this while, even though the late Tan Sri Pandithan was given a senatorship."

"We supported Barisan strongly and PM Najib promised to give us something after the elections," he claimed. "But I'm not sure if its coming. There have been proposals of senatorships, council seats, but there is nothing that came through."

With so many Barisan friendly Indian-based parties on the scene surely the IPF should consider merging?

"I can tell you we can work with MIC, PPP and other parties but at least 85% of grassroots leaders do not support the idea of disolving and joining with MIC. Our membership is still strong. Every day there are new members. It has reached 122,000," said Sambanthan.

Malaysian Indian Justice Party

The Malaysian Indian Justice Party is one of the newly approved parties by the ROS. Like so many other new parties it is Indian-based.

MIJP President Dato' Seri V. Arikrishna said the party was formed out of the ashes of the HINDRAF stuggle. "We are out to defend Indians, because whether it is MIC or the opposition, the grassroots Indians are not reached."

"People say that we don't need so many Indian parties, but I ask if the main party is doing so well, why are Indian voters supporting PKR, DAP and PAS? And can the opposition really help? We want to help the poor Indians by working with UMNO and Barisan."

He claims the MIJP has more than 300,000 members and supporters many of whom are disillusioned with both MIC and parties like PKR and DAP. "From Johor to Perlis we are gaining in numbers because our desire to help the poor is sincere."

People's Progressive Party
The People's Progressive Party (PPP) has a history that is glittering and turbulent in equal measure, but the party is now at a crossroads and has recognised it's need to evolve.

“To move forward, we have to think collectively,” said PPP assistant secretary general Datuk Simon Sabapathy, acknowledging that the party may have to consider the option of merger.

"The struggle for all Malaysians could well be under the umbrella of a single party."

In late June, party president Datuk Seri M. Kayveas announced that Sabapathy was to head a special committee to look at reforms within the party to ensure it continues to remain relevant and progressive.

“We will push for a merger to make ourselves more relevant collectively,” said Sabapathy. "It will be painful to abolish a party that has existed since 1953 but we are ready to make that sacrifice for the good of the nation."

However it remains to be seen if the big parties of Barisan are truly sincere in the merger effort and what direction it should take.

Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia

It seems almost shocking to think of Gerakan as a small party. After all for 38 years, the party provided Penang with its Chief Minister, firstly the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu (1969-1990) and then Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon (1990-2008). However the last two general elections have seen Gerakan's power base virtually wiped out, and the party is now fighting for its life.

Ivanpal Singh Grewal is executive director of SEDAR Institute (Socio-Economic Development And Research Institute), a think tank closely linked to Gerakan. "We have obviously suffered last in the last two elections, reduced from 10 MPs to 1, and from 30 state representatives to just three."

The party faces a huge dilemma over how to move forward said Ivanpal. "The political landscape has changed consiedrably. Gerakan's support was tradionally urban, but nowadays DAP and PKR in particular are a lot better at reaching the people."

"We neglected social media and as yet have not effectively countered it. Personally the task of the new Gerakan leadership after Dr Koh must be to play the role of a consctructive opposition within Barisan. We must be brave enough to disagree and state our views."

Still Ivanpal feels that all is not lost. "There are still young people who support Barisan, bucking the anti-establishment trend. We need to correct all the negative perceptions and tackle the issues that affect the people. Like crime, education and the cost of living."

A merger is a very interesting idea we must explore. We should talk to MCA and PPP to come together. Right now there is a huge danger of Barisan becoming one very big party with 12 other subservient ones just tagging along." - Star, 13/9/2013, Small parties battle the odds