GE15 to witness clash between four coalitions

SHAH ALAM - The 15th General Election (GE15) will see a clash between four political parties’ coalition blocks when the Parti Pejuang Tanahair (Pejuang) chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced the establishment of a new coalition on Thursday.

Universiti Sains Malaysia School of Social Sciences Political Sociology lecturer Professor Dr Sivamurugan Pandian believed that the clash of the four coalitions would give more choices to the voters.

“If in the early stages we only had Umno and Pas, but with the emergence of several new political parties that could be assumed as the basic fragments from the two parties portrayed there was an existence of diversity in the basic political ideology that Umno and Pas once fought for.

“This division of votes will also make the next election more interesting even though we know the spotlight will be given to Umno, Pas, Amanah and Bersatu.

“For Pejuang, this might be a way to overcome the issue they faced in the State Election (PRN) in Johor when they lost all deposits,” he said.

Sivamurugan also stressed that it would be hard to predict which coalition would be able to acquire the benefits behind the establishment of the new alliance.

Meanwhile, Universiti Malaya Administrative and Political Studies Department Senior Lecturer Dr Mohammad Tawfik Yaakub said the establishment of the new idea showed that the division among Malay parties was becoming critical.

He said the establishment of the new coalition was not relevant as it would further cloud voters' sentiments towards the Malay party.

“This establishment will provide a greeter division even though I predicted the impact of this new idea won't be strong enough as it was a member of the ‘mosquito’ party.

"However, with the existence of many Malay parties, this will cause the Malays to end up looking for where they need to depend on or cling to.

"It's because the Malays need a party that can bring the Malays forward in politics, economy and society," he explained.