PSM decides not to join Pakatan Rakyat

(The Star) – Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) has decided not to join the Pakatan Rakyat coalition after two years of waiting, said the party’s secretary-general S. Arutchelvan.

“Basically, we are not part of Pakatan, and we decided that we don’t want to be part of them.

“We will still work with them on programs like their campaign opposing the goods and services tax (GST),” said Arutchelvan.

He told The Star Online in a phone conversation on Tuesday that the party arrived at the decision last Sunday at the PSM special session on the General Election, which saw the participation of all of its state committees.

“In the last election, three of the four seats contested by PSM were three-corner fights. In those fights, one of the opponents was a Pakatan Rakyat candidate,” said Arutchelvan.

PSM fielded candidates for three state seats, namely the Kota Damansara and Semenyih in Selangor, Jelapang in Perak as well as the Sungai Siput Parliamentary seat during the General Election last year.

“We in PSM feel that we cannot be in limbo and we are ready to stand on our own during GE14. We don’t mind working with Pakatan to beat Barisan, but not under the condition that we can not contest under the PSM banner, said Arutchelvan, adding that they had already identified seats they could contest for during the next General Election.