Clear the confusion: does Pakatan Rakyat still exist?
Salleh Said Keruak
We are hearing contradictory statements from PKR, PAS and DAP that make up the coalition called Pakatan Rakyat. No doubt it is not a legally registered coalition like Barisan Nasional but it is still recognised as a coalition even if it is a loose one.
The issue now is: does that coalition still exist? We are hearing one party saying ‘yes’ and the second party saying ‘no’ and yet a third saying it is an internal issue between the first two parties and does not involve them, the third party.
We are still not clear as to whether PAS has been kicked out of Pakatan Rakyat. That seems to be the picture being presented although PAS denies it and insists that it is still in the coalition, which is supposed to no longer exist according to DAP.
If what DAP says is correct — and they have asked the PAS representatives in the Selangor State EXCO to resign — that would mean only DAP and PKR still remain in the Selangor government.
With DAP’s 15 seats and PKR’s 13, that would give them only 28 of the 56 seats, or exactly 50%, and this means Selangor is now a hung government.
The alternative could be for one or two of the PAS State Assemblypersons to resign from their party and announce that they are now independent but ‘PKR-friendly’. This would give them 29 or 30 seats in Selangor and therefore they would now have a simple majority.
