Barisan Alternatif (BA)
The post-Reformasi opposition front of PAS, DAP, Parti Keadilan Nasional and Parti Rakyat Malaysia, formalised by a common manifesto in October 1999, which lost its multi-ethnic character when DAP withdrew in September 2001 over PAS's Islamic-state objective.
Who was in it
In it at the end: PAS, PKR.
Left before it ended: DAP, PRM.
Party membership of a coalition changes over time. The dates behind this are the same ones the Coalition River on the home page is drawn from.
The account
Barisan Alternatif came out of the crisis that began when Anwar Ibrahim was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister in 1998. The protest movement that followed, Reformasi, produced a new party, Parti Keadilan Nasional, and gave the older opposition parties a reason to work together that they had not previously had. On 24 October 1999 the four of them — PAS, DAP, KeADILan and Parti Rakyat Malaysia — launched a joint manifesto, "Towards A Just Malaysia", and with it the front. Lim Kit Siang called it a moment of history: the first time in 42 years that all four major opposition parties had stood on one platform.
The strain was visible on day one. At the launch itself, reporters asked less about what was in the manifesto than about what was left out — PAS's objective of an Islamic state. That question is the whole story of the coalition compressed into a single press conference.
At the election on 29 November 1999 the front won 42 of 193 seats on 40.3 per cent of the vote, while Barisan Nasional held 148 seats on 56.51 per cent and kept its two-thirds majority. Within the opposition the shift was dramatic:
- PAS
- went from seven seats to 27 and took the Kelantan and Terengganu state assemblies
- DAP
- won 10 seats
- KeADILan
- won five seats
- PRM
- won none
So the front's biggest single gain went to the party whose central objective its other partners could not accept.
It held for less than two years. On 22 September 2001 DAP's central executive committee decided that, since DAP and PAS had failed to resolve the Islamic-state question, there was no reason for DAP to remain, and the party announced its withdrawal.
DAP's own account puts it the same way: PAS's insistence on an Islamic state was incompatible with a democratic, secular and multi-religious Malaysia as DAP understood it. PRM's Sanusi Osman said the timing surprised him; KeADILan's Chandra Muzaffar said the pact would survive.
It did survive, in a narrower form. A PAS-KeADILan Barisan Alternatif contested the March 2004 election on a platform covering rights, religion, development and the repeal of detention without trial.
The result was Barisan Nasional's best ever: 198 of 219 seats on 63.8 per cent of the vote, with PAS down to seven seats and PKR to one. Only DAP, standing outside the front, held its ground at 12. Abdul Rashid Moten and Tunku Mohar Mokhtar list the divisions that followed DAP's departure among the factors in that result.
No record was found of Barisan Alternatif being formally dissolved, and none of it ever being registered with the Registrar of Societies. What followed instead was a second attempt at the same three-party combination: after the 2008 election, DAP, PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat — the merged KeADILan and PRM — formed Pakatan Rakyat. That coalition broke up in 2015, again over the reach of Islamic law.
What the sources say
Formation
On 24 October 1999, PAS, DAP, Parti Keadilan Nasional (KeADILan) and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) launched a common manifesto at a hotel event, formalising Barisan Alternatif as an opposition front. DAP leader Lim Kit Siang called it "a moment of history", saying that for the first time in the country's political history the four major opposition parties had come together on a common platform.
DAP describes the same four parties as BA's components and names the joint manifesto "Towards A Just Malaysia", published in Malay as "Ke arah Malaysia yang lebih adil".
At the manifesto launch, reporters' questions centred on what the document did not contain: PAS's objective of establishing an Islamic state. PRM president Syed Husin Ali said the manifesto set out the front's vision and policies for five years and longer, and that politics in the country had moved beyond the case of Anwar Ibrahim.
The 1999 election
At the general election of 29 November 1999, Barisan Nasional won 148 of 193 seats, Barisan Alternatif 42 and others three. PAS increased its representation from seven seats to 27 and won the Kelantan and Terengganu state assemblies. Barisan Nasional lost 14 seats compared with 1995 but retained a two-thirds parliamentary majority.
Barisan Alternatif took 40.3 per cent of the votes and 21.8 per cent of the seats, against Barisan Nasional's 56.51 per cent of votes and 76.7 per cent of seats.
Within the front's 42 seats, DAP won 10 and KeADILan five; PRM won none.
DAP's withdrawal
DAP announced its withdrawal from Barisan Alternatif on 22 September 2001. Malaysiakini reported the party's central executive committee as concluding that, given the failure of DAP and PAS to resolve the Islamic-state question, there was no longer any need for DAP to remain in BA.
DAP's own account gives the same reason: it says PAS's insistence on establishing an Islamic state was incompatible with DAP's commitment to a democratic, secular and multi-religious Malaysia, and that DAP could no longer maintain its commitment within BA.
The other partners' immediate reactions differed. PRM secretary-general Sanusi Osman called the decision surprising and said he did not understand why it had to be taken then; KeADILan deputy president Chandra Muzaffar said DAP's withdrawal would not damage the existing opposition pact.
2004 and after
Barisan Alternatif continued as a PAS-KeADILan front and campaigned at the general election of 21 March 2004 on rights, religion and culture, development, health, education, employment and the environment, including proposals to end detention without trial and review restrictive laws.
On the results declared on election day in 2004, Barisan Nasional won 198 of 219 parliamentary seats with 63.8 per cent of the popular vote. DAP won 12 seats, PAS seven, PKR one and an independent one.
Abdul Rashid Moten and Tunku Mohar Mokhtar list divisions following DAP's departure from Barisan Alternatif, and tensions among opposition parties, among the factors in Barisan Nasional's 2004 result.
The three parties came together again only after the 2008 general election, as Pakatan Rakyat: DAP, PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the latter formed by a merger of Parti Keadilan Nasional and PRM.
Where accounts differ
Whether Barisan Alternatif was ever registered with the Registrar of Societies could not be established
No source located states that BA applied, was registered, or was refused. Its four components each contested under their own registered party symbols.
When Barisan Alternatif was formed
Inter Press Service reported the front as being sealed by the common manifesto launched on 24 October 1999. A 3 August 1999 launch date appears in a later academic paper citing a 1999 Harakah headline, which could not be opened. The membership dates above therefore begin in October 1999.
PAS's 2004 seat total
ElectionData.MY and Aliran record seven PAS seats on the election-day result; a later composition of the Dewan Rakyat, after an election petition, records six.
ElectionData.MYAliranAbdul Rashid Moten and Tunku Mohar Mokhtar
When Barisan Alternatif ended
No source located records a dissolution. What the record shows is DAP leaving on 22 September 2001, a PAS-KeADILan Barisan Alternatif campaigning in March 2004, and a new three-party coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, forming after the 2008 election.
MalaysiakiniAbdul Rashid Moten and Tunku Mohar MokhtarDAP Malaysia
Common questions
Which parties were in Barisan Alternatif?
Four: PAS, DAP, Parti Keadilan Nasional (KeADILan) and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM). They launched a joint manifesto, "Towards A Just Malaysia", on 24 October 1999, which formalised the front. DAP left in September 2001, and the remaining PAS-KeADILan front contested the 2004 election.
How did Barisan Alternatif do in 1999?
It won 42 of 193 parliamentary seats on 40.3 per cent of the vote, while Barisan Nasional won 148 seats on 56.51 per cent and kept its two-thirds majority. Within the front PAS rose from seven seats to 27 and won the Kelantan and Terengganu state assemblies, DAP won 10 and KeADILan five.
Why did DAP leave Barisan Alternatif?
DAP announced its withdrawal on 22 September 2001, after its central executive committee concluded that it and PAS had failed to resolve the question of an Islamic state. DAP's own account says PAS's insistence on establishing one was incompatible with its commitment to a democratic, secular and multi-religious Malaysia.
Was Barisan Alternatif a registered coalition?
Whether it was registered could not be established: no source located states that it applied to the Registrar of Societies, was registered, or was refused. Its component parties each contested under their own party symbols.
Is Barisan Alternatif the same as Pakatan Rakyat?
No, though the parties overlap. Barisan Alternatif was the 1999 front of PAS, DAP, KeADILan and PRM. Pakatan Rakyat was formed after the 2008 general election by DAP, PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the party created by the merger of KeADILan and PRM.
Still open
- Was Barisan Alternatif ever registered with the Registrar of Societies, and if an application was made, what became of it?
- Was there any formal act ending Barisan Alternatif, or did it simply stop being used after 2004?
- On what date in 2003 did Parti Keadilan Nasional and PRM complete their merger into Parti Keadilan Rakyat?