Pakatan may impose gag order

(The Star) SEREMBAN: Pakatan Rakyat leaders will meet today to discuss the possibility of imposing a gag order to prevent their respective MPs and state assemblymen from openly criticising their colleagues.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said both DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had agreed to have the meeting.

“Each party will be represented by about 30 leaders. We will discuss whatever problems we have. We do not want Pakatan’s credibility to be undermined due to open squabbling especially through the media,” he said.

The meeting will be held at PKR’s headquarters at Merchant Square in Tropicana, Damansara.

Anwar said although Pakatan leaders encouraged constructive criticisms, they were however often manipulated by the media to make it seem as if the coalition was breaking up.

“We do not want to be too rigid when its comes to these things but when our wakil rakyat makes a stand against a colleague, it is perceived as unhappiness within our ranks.

“We will make a firm decision on where to draw the line. We want to establish the perimeters so that our supporters will not think that we are at odds with each other over everything,” he said during a dialogue at a private club here on Tuesday night.

PAS and DAP have recently been at odds in Selangor over the selling of beer in Muslim-majority areas in the state.

In Kedah, the state DAP had threatened to pull out of the state government last month over the relocation of an illegal pig abattoir.

In Penang meanwhile, the rift is between the state DAP and PKR over the appointment of municipal councillors in the state.