We’re working on it, PKR president says of strained Pakatan ties

(Malay Mail Online) – Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail acknowledged today that ties among Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties PKR, PAS, and DAP have been strained, but said that party leaders are “working” to repair the fractures.

The PKR president said she believes the pact can remedy the situation, noting that all three parties share similar principles.

“I believe it (ties) can be fixed.

“We need unity and consensus between these parties, we share the same principles,” the PKR president said at a news conference here.

Dr Wan Azizah was responding to a statement made by DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang earlier this week, where the latter admitted all was not well in PR — resulting in the leadership council being unable to meet for more than six months.

“Pakatan needs to meet more often. (What Kit Siang said) is aimed more at PAS, in terms of communication with DAP and PKR,” the Kajang state lawmaker said.

DAP and PAS — who respectively subscribe to secular and Islamic policies — have long been at odds over the latter party’s insistence on implementing hudud law, with both sides taking divergent positions on whether Malaysia is a secular or Islamic state.

This is the second time the two parties have formed an alliance, having embarked on an ultimately failed attempt to work together under the short-lived Barisan Alternatif that was formed with two other parties in the late 1990s.