Hadi puts squeeze on Bersatu to assert PAS dominance, says analyst – Free Malaysia Today

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What You’ll Need

Before embarking on a strategy to assert dominance, ensure your party is equipped with the foundational elements necessary for success:

• A Clear and Unified Party Vision: Your party must have a coherent ideology, policy platform, and long-term goals that are understood and shared by all members, from leadership to grassroots. Internal divisions can be easily exploited by rivals.
• Strong, Decisive Leadership: Effective leaders who can articulate the vision, make tough decisions, and command respect both internally and externally are crucial. They must be capable negotiators and strategists.
• Robust Grassroots Support and Membership: A strong base provides legitimacy, manpower, and electoral weight. It demonstrates your party’s ability to mobilize voters and exert influence beyond the political elite.
• Effective Communication Channels: The ability to communicate your message clearly and consistently to the public, your members, and your coalition partners is paramount. This includes media relations, social media, and internal messaging.
• Skilled Strategists and Negotiators: A team capable of analyzing the political landscape, identifying leverage points, and crafting intricate negotiation strategies is indispensable.
• Financial Resources: Politics often requires funding for campaigns, outreach, research, and party operations. Adequate resources can significantly bolster your party’s capacity and reach.
• Patience and Adaptability: Political maneuvering is a long game, requiring the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, wait for opportune moments, and recover from setbacks.
• A Deep Understanding of the Political Landscape: Thorough knowledge of your country’s political system, electoral dynamics, public sentiment, and the internal workings of your coalition partners is essential for informed decision-making.

Steps

1. 1. Conduct a Thorough Internal and External Analysis

   Before making any moves, you need a crystal-clear picture of your party’s standing and the broader political environment. Internally, assess your party’s unique strengths (e.g., strong ideology, popular leaders, loyal voter base) and weaknesses (e.g., internal factions, limited reach, financial constraints). Understand your core support and where your party truly excels. Externally, analyze the political landscape: what are the prevailing public sentiments, key issues, and potential shifts? Critically evaluate your coalition partners. What are their electoral strengths and weaknesses? Do they have internal divisions? What are their core ideologies and non-negotiable demands? Identifying their dependencies on your party (e.g., electoral support, policy expertise, public legitimacy) and their vulnerabilities will be crucial for later steps. This foundational analysis helps you identify leverage points and potential areas of resistance.

2. 2. Define Your Vision of Dominance and Set Clear Objectives

   What does “dominance” actually mean for your party within this coalition? Is it about holding the most ministerial portfolios, controlling key policy areas, having your party leader as the ultimate decision-maker, or ensuring your ideology is the prevailing one? Clearly articulate this vision. Then, break it down into measurable, achievable objectives. For example, an objective might be “secure 60% of key economic portfolios within 18 months” or “ensure our party’s flagship environmental policy is adopted as government policy within one year.” Having specific goals helps focus your strategy and provides benchmarks for success, ensuring that all actions contribute to the overarching aim of asserting dominance.

3. 3. Strengthen Your Party’s Internal Cohesion and Public Image

   A strong, unified party is the bedrock of any dominance strategy. Focus on resolving internal disputes, fostering loyalty, and ensuring all party members are aligned with the leadership’s vision. A cohesive party projects strength and confidence, making it harder for coalition partners to exploit internal rifts. Simultaneously, work on enhancing your party’s public image. Highlight your successes, communicate your vision effectively, and position your party as responsible, capable, and indispensable to the nation’s progress. Emphasize your party’s unique contributions and solutions to national challenges. A strong public mandate provides legitimacy and leverage when negotiating or asserting influence within the coalition.

   

4. 4. Cultivate and Leverage Strategic Relationships

   Dominance isn’t always about outright confrontation; it’s often about strategic alliances and isolating rivals. Identify key individuals within your coalition partners who might be sympathetic to your party’s agenda or who can be swayed. Build personal relationships where possible. Look for common ground on specific issues that can lead to joint initiatives, subtly increasing your influence. Simultaneously, identify potential “swing voters” or smaller parties within the coalition whose support could be crucial. By cultivating strong ties with some partners, you can effectively isolate others who might resist your dominance, making it harder for them to form a united front against your party.

5. 5. Control the Narrative Through Strategic Communication

   The perception of strength and leadership is often as important as the reality. Your party must take charge of the public narrative. Consistently communicate your party’s achievements, policy successes, and indispensable role within the coalition. Frame your party as the steady hand, the visionary leader, or the voice of reason. When disagreements arise, present your party’s position as logical and beneficial for the greater good, while subtly highlighting the shortcomings or inflexibility of others. Use all available media channels – traditional, digital, and grassroots – to disseminate your message. By shaping public opinion, you create an environment where your party’s leadership is seen as natural and necessary, making it harder for coalition partners to challenge your authority.

6. 6. Exert Influence Through Policy and Agenda Setting

   One of the most effective ways to assert dominance is by consistently driving the policy agenda. Push for your party’s key policy proposals to be adopted as government policy. This demonstrates your party’s intellectual leadership and ability to deliver tangible results. Seek to chair important committees or ministries that allow you to shape policy direction. When new issues arise, ensure your party is the first to offer solutions and frame the debate. By consistently setting the agenda and successfully implementing your policies, you show that your party is the source of innovation and progress, making it difficult for others to ignore your leadership or challenge your policy direction.

   

7. 7. Identify and Exploit Points of Leverage (“The Squeeze”)

   This is where the “squeeze” comes in. Based on your initial analysis, identify specific areas where your coalition partners are dependent on your party. This could be electoral support (e.g., your party’s voters are crucial for their candidates in certain areas), legislative numbers (your votes are essential for passing key bills), public legitimacy (your party’s endorsement adds credibility), or even financial backing. Once identified, strategically apply pressure. This might involve threatening to withhold electoral support in marginal seats, delaying support for their legislative initiatives, or making public statements that subtly question their effectiveness or commitment. The key is to apply pressure where it hurts them most, without necessarily breaking the coalition, unless that is your ultimate goal.

8. 8. Implement Gradual and Calculated Escalation of Pressure

   Avoid sudden, drastic moves that could alienate partners or destabilize the coalition prematurely. Instead, adopt a strategy of gradual escalation. Start with subtle pressures: a critical comment in the media, a delayed response to a request, or a subtle shift in voting patterns on minor issues. If these don’t yield the desired results, escalate to more direct actions, such as publicly questioning a partner’s performance in a specific portfolio, threatening to withdraw support on a critical vote, or initiating internal discussions about coalition restructuring. Each step should be calculated, with a clear understanding of the potential reactions and your party’s capacity to absorb any backlash. The aim is to make your partners feel the increasing pressure to concede without pushing them to a point of no return, unless that is strategically desired.

9. 9. Offer Strategic Concessions and Withdraw Them When Necessary

   Dominance isn’t just about taking; it’s also about strategic giving. Sometimes, offering a minor concession on an issue less critical to your core agenda can create goodwill, diffuse tension, or set the stage for a larger gain later. It can also make your party appear reasonable and willing to compromise, masking your true intent. Conversely, the threat of withdrawing previously granted concessions (e.g., support for a specific bill, a minor portfolio) can be a powerful form of pressure. If a coalition partner is not responding to other forms of pressure, signaling that you might revoke something they value can force them to reconsider their stance and fall in line with your party’s agenda. This requires careful timing and a clear understanding of what your partners value most.

10. 10. Consolidate Gains and Institutionalize Dominance

    Once you’ve successfully asserted dominance, it’s crucial to cement these gains to ensure long-term stability. This means institutionalizing your party’s leading role. Push for formal agreements that reflect your party’s pre-eminence, such as revised coalition charters, new power-sharing formulas that favor your party, or appointments of your party members to key decision-making bodies (e.g., cabinet committees, parliamentary leadership roles). Ensure that future policy directions, resource allocations, and strategic decisions are consistently channeled through mechanisms where your party holds sway. By embedding your dominance within the formal structures of the coalition and government, you make it significantly harder for partners to challenge your authority in the future.

11. 11. Manage Backlash and Maintain Coalition Stability (or Plan for its Dissolution)

    Asserting dominance will inevitably lead to some form of backlash from coalition partners who feel marginalized. Be prepared for this. Have a communication strategy ready to address their concerns, either publicly or privately. Be willing to offer symbolic gestures or minor concessions that don’t undermine your core dominance but help to manage discontent. The goal is to maintain enough stability to keep the coalition functional while your party leads. However, you must also have a contingency plan for the coalition’s dissolution. If partners prove too resistant, or if your party decides that its interests are better served outside the current alliance, you need a clear strategy for exiting the coalition and navigating the subsequent political landscape, including potential new alliances or snap elections. This ensures your party is prepared for all eventualities.

Tips and Common Mistakes