Simmering tensions boil over

Poles apart: Grassroots members of Bersatu and PAS, which make up the Perikatan Nasional bloc, are giving each other the cold shoulder.

PETALING JAYA: The shifting loyalty of four Bersatu lawmakers is compounding long simmering problems on the ground between the opposition party’s grassroots members and its partner PAS.

It is learnt that grassroots members of these two parties, which make up the Perikatan Nasional Opposition bloc, are giving each other the cold shoulder following disagreements over strategy and cooperation during the campaigning for the state polls in August and by-elections this year.

The acrimony between the two parties has come to a point that state-level leaders want their top bosses to intervene and mend ties before they are further strained.

On the Bersatu side, they claimed that PAS members often displayed a superiority complex and would make important decisions without input from them.

PAS, meanwhile, claimed they had to often “carry the weight” in Perikatan’s election campaigns.

A state-level Bersatu leader shared his experience of being excluded by his PAS colleagues from most decision-making processes during two recent polls.

However, he refused to name the seats involved.

“Every time I went to the command centre, ready to discuss strategy, they would say ‘don’t worry about it, it’s all done, we’ve already sent out instructions to the machinery’,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

“What kind of teamwork is this? Once, they said they’d let me handle brochures. I felt insulted. Some say PAS leaders and members have a superiority complex and now I understand the reason for that perception.

“On many occasions, coordination among our machinery was bad during the campaign periods. We were all over the place and couldn’t get things done properly, and the leadership wondered why we didn’t win,” he said.

One clear example of the wedge between the parties was how Penang PAS members snubbed Gerakan president Datuk Dominic Lau at a ceramah during the Penang state polls, said another Bersatu leader.

A video that went viral on social media during the state polls showed how Lau was barred from going on stage during the ceramah in Sungai Dua.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan issued an apology after the incident and instructed his party members to assist Lau’s campaign.

A Bersatu grassroots leader from an east coast state shared a similar experience, saying he now refuses to work with PAS members and leaders.

“They behave like they are above everyone else and say nasty things about us. In this world, even the walls talk. We hear what they say about us.

“I will not work with them and even if I am forced to, I will not speak to any of them again. They treated me and my branch members like garbage.

“They gave us work that they didn’t want to do and just bossed us around and made decisions without even talking to us first.

“My Bersatu friends in the northern, east coast and west coast states from different divisions and branches also shared the same stories, which shows that this is not just limited to a small group of PAS members,” he said when contacted.

On PAS’ side, one branch-level leader described how his members had to do most of the heavy lifting during the Pelangai by-election last month and the six state elections in August.

“Bersatu’s machinery is weak. They don’t move unless told to, they can’t make simple decisions and they lack interest in doing what’s best for the candidates without expecting something.

“They are diligent when their top leaders come to the ground but other than that, it is the PAS machinery that does all the hard work,” he said.

Another grassroots leader from the Islamist party revealed that various election posts or “pondok panas” operated by the PAS machinery for Bersatu candidates during the August state polls were shut down.

He claimed that Bersatu had a habit of choosing candidates who were not locals in their seats and this had upset PAS members.

“Candidates from the other party are not even locals and we are expected to campaign for them.

“How can we promote someone we do not know?

“Perhaps the candidates should take their time to at least get to know our grassroots who are working day and night for them,” the Selangor-based PAS leader said.

With the strained relations between the two parties and the recent actions of the four Bersatu MPs, a party member said it was high time the top leadership did something.

“The leadership must do something soon because we all know that more Bersatu MPs are going to do the same.

“The anti-hopping law has a loophole and we can see that now.

“I can’t play down what my members and grassroots leaders are saying about PAS people. I understand their frustrations but we are in the same pact and must work together,” he said.

The four Bersatu MPs – namely Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman (Labuan), Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (Kuala Kangsar), Mohd Azizi Abu Naim (Gua Musang) and Zahari Kechik (Jeli) – have pledged their support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim but insisted that they are still loyal to Bersatu.

A PAS leader concurred, saying that the Perikatan leadership must accept that there is bad blood and craft an effective strategy to reconcile the bickering parties.

“Telling them to stop getting angry at each other won’t work. Everyone needs to be respectful and talk instead of ignoring one another.

“The pledges of loyalty to Anwar by Bersatu MPs are adding more strain to the situation but we can’t be suspicious of each other at a time like this.

“This is a big task for the leadership to find ways to rectify the situation and reunite members of all parties in Perikatan because we can’t be an effective alternative to the people if there are cracks within us,” he said.