SATURDAY’S (July 26) Turun Anwar rally at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur can be considered success in terms of the crowd that showed up.
I was there with my Urimai (United Rights of Malaysian Party) team members. I can certainly vouch that the crowd could have been easily 200,000 or more. It was certainly not the conservative estimate of 15,000 or the exaggerated figure of 1 million.
Without the mobilising power of the PAS Youth, the crowd would not have swelled the Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.
Although the majority were Malays, the presence of Indians and Chinese was conspicuous.
I suppose this was the first major rally organised by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) opposition that attracted Chinese and Indian political parties that are not part of the government block.
The formation of a united front a few days before the rally was the first attempt by the opposition to incorporate an inclusive look at politics.
Multi-racial thrust
The PN-led opposition is currently more serious than ever about taking national power at the present political juncture than ever before.
Its key component parties, Bersatu and PAS, are serious about winning the next general elections.
They understand that while they have the majority support of the Malays, this is insufficient to give the opposition a national status. Without the involvement of the Chinese and Indians, national power might prove elusive.
While Bersatu has made the move in forming a united front comprising of Malay and non-Malay political parties outside the government block, PAS seems quite reticent in the matter. It is not that PAS rejects the idea of inclusive politics but how the party intends to operationalise the broad-based approach is yet to be fleshed out.
PAS might have non-Malay components via its Non-Muslim Supporters’ Wing (DHPP) but these are too mild and conservative to articulate the broader concerns of the Chinese and Indians in the country.
PN in general might have its political sway in the northern and eastern states but Achilles Heel is in the west coast and southern states where there exists a large non-Malay majority.
Wooing non-Malays
Recently, Pejuang president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir suggested that the possibility of the opposition forming a two-prong coalition on a regional basis to address the lack of the support of the Chinese and Indians.
If this is the possibility, then it is possible for the PN coalition to support non-Malay candidates in the predominantly non-Malay areas and Malay candidates in the Malay areas.
A quid pro quo system could be devised for non-Malays to support PN candidates in predominantly Malay areas and Malays to support non-Malay candidates in non-Malay areas.
Whatever the formula that the PN intends to develop for sustainable inclusive framework, it cannot be denied that the opposition as a whole is moving in the direction of broad-based electoral formula.
The narrative used by the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led coalition to undermine PN as an extremist political coalition might not be sustained in the future.
The Turun Anwar rally was not so much organised to reveal the opposition’s displeasure towards Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim but was also an effort on the part of the opposition to put to test its inclusive political formula of ultimately governing the country.
The rally was not the end but the beginning of the larger and more inclusive momentum to bring about political change in the country. – July 29, 2025
Former DAP stalwart and Penang chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is chairman of the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
