PH single logo will only benefit DAP - Analysts
By Balqis Jamaludin
KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 (Bernama) -- The Pakatan Harapan (PH) decision that all parties in the opposition pact will be contesting under the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) logo in the 14th General Election (GE14) is misleading and will only benefit the DAP.
Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) Political and International Affairs senior lecturer Md Shukri Shuaib said the decision would allow the DAP to exploit PKR and the leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the tool in gaining Malay voters.
"PKR proved to be a tool and forced to let the party logo being used by others. This is not a struggle for a real political party.
"Given the situation, the DAP will benefit the most as it has managed to hide its 'Malaysian Malaysia' agenda as the party is fully aware of the Malay voters' phobia whenever they see the rocket logo and will not vote for the party," he told Bernama here today.
Meanwhile, Pahang UMNO Youth chief Mohd Shahar Abdullah viewed the move was a desperate attempt by DAP upon realising that the party image was not accepted by the people due to various scandals including the issue of the undersea tunnel project in Penang.
"It does not mean PKR is accepted but among the member parties of the opposition pact, only PKR is being viewed to be more acceptable. Maybe they think the other component parties have slimmer chance of winning votes," he said.
In the meantime, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) senior lecturer Prof Datuk Dr Ismail Sualman said the move (of using PKR logo) would create dissatisfaction among Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's hardcore supporters as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was seen to seize the aura of the former opposition leader.
He also did not rule out the possibility of silent protest from DAP supporters who disagreed with their party logo not being used while PKR supporters could act similarly seeing the party logo was used by others.
Elsewhere, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)'s Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty dean Prof Dr Mohd Fuad Mat Jali reminded the members and leaders of the Barisan Nasional (BN) not to take PH action lightly as the opposition pact was trying to show their solidarity to the people.
He said the opposition pact also showed that it would do anything to overthrow BN, including compromising and using the PKR logo.
"The opposition pact's action seems to show that the temporary dissolution of the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) by Registrar of Societies would not affect the pact and to show that the party can overcome the obstacle even if it is not allowed to use its own logo," he said.
-- BERNAMA
