Whither the PCS-PAN pact?
THE most interesting recent development in the last few days was the signing of the alliance between Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) and Parti Anak Negeri (PAN) and as a result the unexpected departure of senior leaders from both parties.
In PCS, deputy presidents Dr Nicholas James Guntobon, Paul Voon, Dr Richard Sakian Gunting, along with five other leaders quit their party saying they were unhappy with the move to form a political pact with PAN.
In PAN, deputy president II, Willybroad Missi; Dusip Gani, information chief; as well as supreme council members Joanas Edler Bibi Kukubung, Eustachius John Jinuli and Donysius Gundidi Asoi ended their ties to the fledgling party, a week after PCS sealed a pact with PAN with a plan to contest between 22 to 25 Kadazandusun Murut seats in the coming GE14 - which if they won all wouldn’t be sufficient to form the government.
The PAN five had also cited authoritarian control by only three people in PAN as another source of their unhappiness.
As usual, the stated reasons for leaving the parties open a lot of speculations on the real behind-the-scene reasons and motivations.
The more painful blow is on PCS, being abandoned by its very senior and key leaders. And this painful fiasco seems to be the culmination of a series of setbacks.
After leaving the Gabungan Sabah, it failed to realize its dream of a grand alliance with Peninsular opposition parties, been played out and rejected as a partner by Warisan, then failed to get a PKR-free contest for the Tamparuli assembly seat (because PKR president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah had said in a speech in Tamparuli that she won’t be giving way to PCS there).
Obviously Azizah was in no mood to forgive and work with incumbent Datuk Wilfred Bumburing who won the Tamparuli seat on a PKR ticket in GE13 then dumped the party to form Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS), and later PCS.
The rejection by PKR consequently ruled out any possibility of the proposed grand alliance involving PCS. Bumburing’s public outburst of anger with Datuk Shafie Apdal, too, had hammered in the nails on the coffin of anymore possible cooperation, or even diplomatic tip-toeing with Warisan.
His outburst too confirmed PCS’ own deep frustration and haplessness. Indeed PCS has been on quite a saga of burning bridges in its short history.
Bumburing eventually settled for an alliance with PAN as the best available deal, a small consolation it managed to opt for in the very tight situation it was in.
Following the departure of senior leaders, PCS and PAN co-organized a gathering in Tenghilan last Friday, attended by a few hundred supporters, to boost its morale. But the big question in the minds of many is, “To what direction and fate is the PCS-PAN alliance headed?” and “How much impact can this alliance have in the imminent GE14?”
At its weakened phase even with a lot of campaign expenditures and speeches, time is not on its side to recover and find its cruising level, which will be even lower than it was a few days ago.
How very ironic that a pact, instead of advancing with the intended synergy, had suddenly received a political boomerang, losing a lot of its momentum and influence.
The other obvious drawback which can’t miss our attention is the late, late realization of the pact - so near to the general election. It’s also true that both parties are now even lower in status in the present political scenario.
And ironically too, just as Bumburing having accused the Gabungan Sabah coalition partners as pro-Umno/BN as its excuse for leaving the alliance, both PCS and PAN have been accused of being BN-sponsored themselves.
PCS’s serious problem is the worrisome possibility of its president failing to retain his assembly seat for Tamparuli. In addition to having suffered the many debacles, Bumburing is facing (1) the challenge of PKR on whose ticket he won in GE13, (2) the loss of support of the leaders and members of its former ally, STAR, (3) the loss of Chinese support, so strong in GE13 due to the anti-BN and pro-PKR sentiment, is now said to have long waned, and (4) the splitting of opposition votes.
Should he lose the Tamparuli seat, that could seriously dampen his political future, and may spell the end of PCS if no other candidate of the party wins any seat.
At the moment the prospect is for Tamparuli is to have, as possible candidates, former Tamparuli assemblyman Edward Linggu from STAR, Datuk Jahid Jahim from PBS, Datuk Wilfred Bumburing from PCS, Nadia Sinam from PKR, a still-unknown Warisan candidate and perhaps a number of independents.
Tamparuli still doesn’t have a credible body of PAN members and supporters, hence the party will be of little help to PCS there.
Also PCS-PAN pact is far from being able to challenge the mass of support which Gabungan Sabah had cultivated with years of media exposures and statewide roadshows.
The new pact’s problem is having to muster a robustness to create the still elusive critical mass it direly needs. But the prospect for this is little in view of the very short time available to create a seismic wave, and a shortage in strength to adequately mobilize itself.
The badly shaken new pact is calling other parties to join it. However, any other local remaining parties outside the Gabungan Sabah and the BN are in the class of mosquito parties. And whatever new parties it could muster to take in, the new alliance would still be missing the complete racial mix (Momogun, Muslim and Chinese) now enjoyed by Gabungan.
In fact, PCS’ best choice would have been to come back to the Gabungan, but we can guess that PCS wasn’t willing to swallow its pride by doing so.