The Alliance of Hope (Malay: Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysianpolitical coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the ruling coalition since November 2022 after it formed the coalition government with other political coalitions and parties as a result of the 2022 Malaysian general election, and after it won the 2018 Malaysian general election to February 2020 when it lost power as a result of the 2020 Malaysian political crisis at the federal level for 22 months. The coalition deposed the Barisan Nasional coalition government during the 2018 election, ending its 60-year-long reign (together with its predecessor, Alliance) since independence.
It is currently the largest coalition in the Dewan Rakyat with 81 seats. At the state level, it is the ruling coalition in 7 of the 13 states in the country, Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Pahang, Melaka and Sabah. It also holds two-thirds majorities in the state legislative assemblies of Penang and Selangor, while it rules Perak, Pahang and Melaka in coalition governments with Barisan Nasional (BN) and Sabah with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS).
The coalition lost its majority in parliament and fell from power in February 2020 when its chairman and then-Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad resigned after 22 months in office (compared to his 22 years as Prime Minister while with UMNO), and the Malaysian United Indigenous Party together with 11 members of parliament from the People's Justice Party left the coalition.[4][5][6]
Pakatan Harapan is a direct successor to the three-party Pakatan Rakyat coalition that consisted of the People's Justice Party, the Democratic Action Party and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party. Pakatan Harapan was founded on 22 September 2015, two years after the 2013 general election, due to disagreements and conflicts between PAS and DAP mainly regarding the issue of the implementation of the sharia law, resulting in PAS splitting off from Pakatan Rakyat and the break-up of the coalition on 16 June 2015.[7][8] The dissolution resulted in the formation of a new coalition named Pakatan Harapan, consisting the former Pakatan Rakyat parties, PKR and DAP, and a PAS split-off party, the National Trust Party.[9][10]
On 12 November 2016, a United Malays National Organisation split-off party, the Malaysian United Indigenous Party, founded and led by former Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, confirmed that the party was committed to joining the opposition bloc Pakatan Harapan.[11][12] Later, on 13 December, the party formed an electoral pact with Pakatan Harapan,[13] and finally on 14 March 2017, BERSATU officially joined Pakatan Harapan as a member party.[14]
2018 general election
On 14 July 2017, the Presidential council line-up was confirmed. A common logo was also introduced with the word "Harapan" with the "A" shaped as a chevron in white on a red background. The logo was initially planned to be used by all participating candidates for the 2018 general election, but the use of the logo and registration of the coalition was denied by the Election Commission.[15] To pursue the coalition's plan to contest under a common logo, Pakatan announced that the PKR logo will be used by all component parties of the coalition as its election symbol in the elections,[16] excluding for DAP who chose to contest under their own party flag in Sabah and Sarawak.[17][18][19]
The coalition secured an electoral pact with the Sabah-based Sabah Heritage Party for the 2018 general election. WARISAN's president, Shafie Apdal, promised that the party would be represented on the federal cabinet if the coalition came to power,[20] adding that through the electoral pact they will only co-operate with Pakatan as an ally, and not joining the pact as a component party since they will only contest in Sabah, not in Peninsular Malaysia.[21] In that election, Pakatan Harapan swept the election and formed the government in a surprise upset overturning the former ruling party UMNO's decades of uninterrupted rule, as the Malay vote was dissatisfied and mainly went to Amanah and popular former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's party Bersatu, while the Chinese vote was solidly behind parties like DAP and PKR. Following the surprise victory of Pakatan Harapan and WARISAN in the general election, the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation announced that they have left Barisan Nasional and will form a new Sabah state government with WARISAN and Pakatan Harapan.[22] UPKO and WARISAN are currently both the allies for Pakatan Harapan since both parties are also allied towards each other's in Sabah.[23]
On 16 May 2018, the coalition was officially registered.[24] After winning the power in 2018, the coalition made some efforts in ensuring an independent trial for Najib's corruption charges, an independent anti-corruption commission, and repealing anti-fake news law. On the other hand, other issues such as decentralisation of powers to Sabah and Sarawak, educational reform, issues relating to indigenous people (orang asli), racial equality, and political patronage remained unchanged. Meanwhile, the Pakatan Harapan government was distracted by factional infighting.[25]
On 24 February 2020, Mahathir resigned as the Prime Minister. BERSATU which had 26 MPs, withdrew from the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition. In addition, 11 MPs from PKR resigned from the party to form an independent bloc. This leaves Pakatan Harapan 37 seats short of the 112 seats needed to form a government. The surprise announcement came amid speculation that Mahathir was attempting to form a new ruling coalition that would exclude his designated successor Anwar Ibrahim.[4][5][6] However, Anwar later clarified to reporters that Mahathir did not orchestrate the act. These events also resulted in the number of Pakatan Harapan coalition member parties returned to the original three.[26]
Pakatan Harapan at coalition level doesn't have any allegiance with political internationals. Some of its component parties does, as PKR was recognized as observer party of Liberal International while DAP co-founded the Progressive Alliance. On the aftermath of 15th general election, Anwar Ibrahim received congratulatory message from Ennahda Party of Tunisia.[31] The party previously was present at an event organised by AMANAH in 2015.
Pakatan Harapan also forms the state governments of Pahang, Perak, Melaka and Johor in coalition with Barisan Nasional, and the state government of Sabah in coalition with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, following the formation of the federal unity government (Kerajaan Perpaduan) in the aftermath of the 15th general election of November 2022.
^Rizalman Hamim; Mohd Fahmi Mohd Yusof (6 April 2018). "Pakatan to use PKR logo in GE14". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
^"Opposition Pact to unveil common logo for GE14 on Friday". New Straits Times. 5 April 2018. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018. In a press conference at Parliament lobby on Thursday, Lim Guan Eng however said the change will only be for peninsula in the polls and the four parties will not use the common Pakatan Harapan logo in Sabah and Sarawak for GE14 election campaign. They're different because they have autonomy. So we respect this and they can use the DAP rocket logo.
^Julia Chan (6 April 2018). "Sabah, Sarawak Pakatan parties won't use common logo". The Malay Mail. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018. This was a big decision for us, to be able to exercise our autonomy and decide for ourselves. We chose to use our own respective party flags. So, PKR, DAP and Amanah flags will be used here.
^Sharon Ling (9 April 2018). "Sarawak DAP to use rocket logo for GE14". The Star. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018. We have decided that DAP will use the rocket symbol while PKR and Amanah will both use the PKR logo.
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