Malaysian opposition averts split as PAS backs Anwar Ibrahim
De factor leader of Pakatan Rakyat, Anwar Ibrahim, had faced rift with its conservative coalition partner PAS over his wife's appointment
Malaysia's resurgent opposition coalition appeared to have averted a rift as its Islamic partner threw its support behind the other member parties yesterday after weeks of wrangling.
The row centred on a bid by de facto head of Pakatan Rakyat (People's Pact), Anwar Ibrahim, to have his widely respected wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, head Selangor, Muslim-majority Malaysia's richest and most populous state, which the opposition won in 2008.
Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) earlier opposed the move, but yesterday threw its support behind Wan Azizah rather than the incumbent chief minister, Khalid Ibrahim, who has been sacked from Anwar's party for refusing to relinquish the post.
Unprecedented electoral gains have enabled the three-party opposition to present a united front in the last two polls despite wide religious differences and pose a real challenge to the ruling coalition which has governed the country since independence.
But an impasse over this key political appointment put the conservative PAS on a collision course with its two more secular partners, reigniting doubts over the alliance's future.
However, a possible split was averted after PAS said it remained committed to Pakatan Rakyat after a meeting of PAS leaders.
"We are trying very hard to strengthen our coalition. Our bottom line is ... to ensure that Pakatan Rakyat is the alternative in Malaysian politics," PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub said.
Khalid said in a statement he would seek an audience with Selangor's sultan, who must endorse the chief minister, for "advice on the next steps" now that he had lost PAS support.
A deepening divide has become clear, however, within PAS between a moderate faction and more conservative officials who advocate harsh sharia Islamic criminal punishments and are upset with concessions made to the more secular partner parties.
"Maybe within the coalition they can work it out but public trust has been severely damaged, especially in PAS," said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of Malaysian public policy think tank IDEAS and a PAS member.
The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and its partners have run Malaysia virtually uninterrupted since independence in 1957 but have increasingly come under criticism for alleged corruption, high-handedness and discrimination against the country's sizable non-Muslim ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
UMNO's coalition lost the popular vote for the first time in elections last year to Pakatan Rakyat promises of clean government, racial harmony and a freer society though it retained the majority of parliament seats.
Since 2008, the once-hapless opposition has rallied around Anwar, a charismatic former deputy premier who was ousted from UMNO in a late-1990s power struggle.
Anwar is appealing against a March conviction on a sodomy charge, widely seen as trumped up, that could see him jailed and end his political career.
The power struggle within Pakatan Rakyat could have resulted in a snap poll if there was no consensus.
The coalition retained control of the state in a general election last year, and currently holds 44 of 56 state seats, 15 of them controlled by PAS.
At stake for Anwar, who has led the opposition unsuccessfully in two national elections, is holding together the alliance as a viable alternative to Prime Minister Najib Razak's coalition.
