PKR to meet on split hopes for Harapan
Rafizi confirms emergency meeting next week after petition by pro-PAS members, says report
(Free Malaysia Today) – Parti Keadilan Rakyat is to hold an emergency leadership meeting next Sunday after a pro-PAS faction called for more discussions about the formation of the new opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan.
The party’s supreme council will meet on October 11, party secretary-general Rafizi Ramli was quoted as saying today, confirming that 25 members had petitioned the president.
No details of the petitioners were available, but Rafizi said he believed the discussions would be about the timing of the announcement rather than on the necessity of forming a coalition.
The petitioners want to delay the formation of Pakatan Harapan to allow more talks with PAS, which is not included.
Pakatan Harapan comprises PKR, the DAP and the new Amanah party of breakaway PAS members. Its formation was announced by PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail on September 22 after a meeting involving the three parties and several non-political organisations.
PAS has refused to further cooperate with the DAP and Amanah after sharp differences between PAS and DAP. The party has said ties would be maintained with PKR, with whom it cooperates in the Selangor coalition government.
Selangor menteri besar Azmin Ali, who is deputy president of PKR, has said that PAS was still a member of the old Pakatan Rakyat coalition, despite the DAP having unilaterally declared the coalition dead after differences with PAS about the Islamist party’s moves to enforce hudud criminal penalties in Kelantan.
Rafizi confirmed that PKR was now divided into two schools of thought about Pakatan Harapan with one side wanting it to be done immediately, and the other wanting a delay so that talks with PAS may continue.
“My understanding is that there is no dispute on the need for a new Pakatan, but simply whether it is hasty or not,” he was quoted as saying.
