Pakatan will live on after Anwar, PAS sec-gen says

(Malay Mail Online) – Jailing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy will only cause the Pakatan Rakyat opposition pact to become more resilient rather than disintegrate, said PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali today.

Mustafa said the opposition pact was not concerned that the opposition leader may be sent to prison when his case is decided next month, adding that DAP, PKR and PAS will continue to work together as a coalition.

“Pakatan Rakyat will be stronger because we need to be responsible… we need to continue the struggle,” he said at a press conference today.

He was responding to claims that the eight-year-old pact will fall apart if Anwar, a key personality in bridging the three parties with opposing ideologies, is convicted and imprisoned.

Mustafa also said that there was a second-rung of leaders ready to take over from Anwar if necessary.

“Even if Anwar is not around… Kak Wan is there, and so is Azmin. That’s PKR’s leadership… we work with the parties, not the individual,” said Mustafa, referring to PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail and deputy president Azmin Ali.

The High Court had in 2012 acquitted Anwar of allegedly sodomising his former political aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in an upscale Bukit Damansara condominium on June 26, 2008.

But the decision was later overturned by the Court of Appeal, last year, and the Opposition Leader was subsequently sentenced to a five-year jail term.

Anwar then appealed to the Federal Court, which announced that it will deliver its ruling on the case on February 10.