Saturday April 13, 2013

GE13: Time is running out for PSM

Comment by BARADAN KUPPUSAMY

Tough choice: A flag bearing PSM’s symbol in Mutiara Damansara.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia will have to make a choice by tomorrow if it will contest in the general election under its own symbol or using either DAP's or PKR's.

Pakatan Rakyat is having a big headache over what to do with its smallest and prickliest partner, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), which occupies an entirely unique position openly opposition but not yet a formal partner of the alliance.

Its application to join Pakatan is in permanent limbo not only because PSM openly flaunts its socialist ideology but also because of its insistence on using its own clenched-fist logo which its partners say makes voters uneasy with memories of the communist uprising still fresh in their minds.

Another reason Pakatan baulks is that by admitting PSM as a member, it opens Pakatan to attacks from its political enemies that it is left wing, godless and worships left-wing revolutionaries of the past like Che Guevara.

Pakatan leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim very much wants to bring PSM into the grouping but he is afraid of PSM's ideology, its logo and members openly touting images of Che Guevara on their T-shirts and banners.

According to Pakatan sources, Anwar is willing to admit PSM as a full member provided they give up their clenched-fist logo and tone down on the images that tend to frighten voters away.

“Many voters still have adverse memories of the communist insurrection and some younger ones can't differentiate between communism and socialism,” said a PKR insider.

“Muslim voters in the rural areas are particularly sensitive to suggestions that Pakatan Rakyat is cohabitating with communist elements,” he said, adding that PAS ulamas were sensitive to criticisms of this kind.

“In this issue, Anwar's hands are tied,” the source said, adding that PSM must decide quickly to abandon its symbol and use either the DAP's or PKR's symbol.

“We are okay with the ideology part of PSM so long as they don't flaunt images of Karl Marx or something along that line during campaigning,” he said.

PSM has a choice use PKR's or DAP's symbol or face multi-cornered fights in the four seats it has requested.

Time is running out for PSM because Anwar is scheduled to announce PKR's list tomorrow. At stake are four seats that PSM contested in 2008 when it was not yet registered and had to operate under PKR and DAP banners.

The diamond in the crown is the Sungei Siput parliamentary seat that PSM supreme council member Dr Michael Jeyakumar won defeating then MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.

And the Kota Damansara state seat was won by PSM chairman Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim.

It also fielded its deputy chairman M. Sarasvathy in Jelapang in a three-way contest against the DAP and Barisan Nasional.

The seat was won by DAP but a year later its candidate Datuk Hee Yit Foong defected.

PSM wants to re-contest all three seats together with Semenyih which its secretary-general S. Arutchelvam lost in 2008.

The thinking in PSM is that Pakatan Rakyat is unnecessarily fussy about PSM and its logo which was given the green light by ROS way back in June 2008.

“We have applied to join Pakatan Rakyat but our application is also in limbo,” says a PSM leader. “We don't see anything wrong in our logo...it is a symbol of our commitment.”

The DAP is particularly opposed to PSM fielding its candidate in Jelapang and is willing to fight it out as it did in 2008.

The PKR, in particular supporters of deputy president Azmin Ali, is also vying for the Semenyih seat leaving only Sungei Siput and Kota Damansara as likely PSM seats provided PSM uses the PKR logo.

PSM had operated as an unregistered political party for nearly 15 years before registration was given in June 2008 and in that 15 years it grew from a band of dedicated activists to a full-fledged political party with its own membership base and extensive grassroots networks in certain areas.

PSM thinks it should be taken seriously because its activists have put in long years and taken up issues that other opposition parties would not take up.

Besides, its clenched-fist symbol is sacrosanct and stands for uncompromising activism.

But PKR thinks PSM should take the realities of the country's political landscape seriously and adjust accordingly and not live in a theoretical world of Lenin or Marx.

It has to climb down from its high pedestal and be more practical, said a PKR leader.

“It is political realism that wins the day, not past glories of the left,” he added.

PSM has to make some tough choices by tomorrow when it meets Anwar and that is if it will contest under its own banner or enter the fray on the PKR ticket.

For more election stories, please visit The Star's GE13 site

More News