Next polls: Cinta may hold hands with Kita
By Athi Shankar, Free Malaysia Today
GEORGE TOWN: Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) had not ruled out the possibility of working with Zaid Ibrahim’s Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air (Kita) in the next general election.
However, PCM vice president Huan Cheng Guan made it clear that his party would only work with Kita or any other non-aligned splinter political group, on an agreed and acceptable common platform for the betterment of the people and Malaysia.
“The common framework must be based on principles of democracy, justice, rule of law, fairness and equality for all,” he told FMT.
Zaid had surprisingly chose to join a relatively small political party – the Kelantan-based Angkatan Keadilan Insan Malaysia, better known as Akim – to resurrect his political career.
The former law minister was elected as the party’s chief during its first general assembly held outside of Kelantan.
Akim’s incumbent president Zakaria Salleh had willingly stepped aside for Zaid at the party’s extraordinary general meeting yesterday morning.
Akim was founded in 1995 but had yet to make an impact in the political arena. The party also changed its name to Kita, in a move to attract more non-Malay–Muslims into its fold.Zaid’s latest political move raised public optimism on an emerging third political force in the country.
‘Third force is kingmaker’
Claiming that PCM has about 10,000 members across the country, Huan said the party was willing to be the catalyst to form the third political block.
“If one takes a cue from the political development in many other democracies, a third force is inevitable in Malaysia. We are willing to hold discussions with any interested parties to establish the third block,” he said.
However, he cautioned that the third block should not be burdened with baggage caused by internal problems of the respective parties.
Kita for instance, he said, should resolve all its outstanding internal issues such as proposed changes to the party’s name, constitution, leadership structure and ideological agenda before PCM could hold talks with the party.
“A third force cannot afford to have a Kita laden with technical problems,” he said.
