PKR ready to talk, Azmin says after PAS deputy calls for opposition ‘ceasefire’

(MMO) – PKR will help facilitate efforts to unite PAS with Pakatan Harapan and other parties committed to the reform agenda, its deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said today.

The Selangor Mentri Besar welcomed PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man’s call for a “ceasefire” and a united opposition front, saying it was time the two forces move forward and refocus on defeating the common enemy ― Barisan Nasional ― for the good of the people.

“I gladly welcome the statement made by PAS deputy president Dato’ Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man who wants all opposition parties to unite and stop attacking each other.

“I also agree that we should focus on and unite our common grounds, instead of being obsessed with our differences,” Azmin said in a statement.

“PKR is ready to facilitate a roundtable meeting with all opposition parties, NGOs and individuals committed to the reform agenda in the near future,” the PKR number two added.

Earlier today Tuan Ibrahim said the in-fighting between and within opposition parties must stop, and it was time to find a compromise in order to move forward as a united front to defeat the ruling party.

“Right now all the main parties are all facing their own crisis, including Umno. Everyone is taking a shot at each other and taking each other down. The public is confused and shaking their heads at our disarray. We are going nowhere fast and sinking,” he said in a statement.

The Islamist party’s second-in-command acknowledged that it would be difficult for several parties with varied ideologies to reach a compromise and it would need a lot of good faith and tolerance.

Azmin said he was optimistic that it could succeed, pointing to the success of the former Pakatan Rakyat pact in denying BN a two-third majority in Parliament for the first time in decades in 2008, and again in 2013.

The Selangor MB added that the division between them had only benefitted BN as seen in the Sarawak polls and the two parliamentary by-elections in Sungai Besar, Selangor, and Kuala Kangsar, Perak.

Opposition votes were split from the three cornered-fights in the twin by-elections, and even some contests between supposed allies DAP and PKR at the Sarawak state election.

Azmin said it was crucial that PAS and PH to try and form another electoral pact to continue serving the aspiration of voters who want change.

“And should we fail, it would be a betrayal of the trust put upon us by the people,” he added.

The informal Pakatan Rakyat opposition pact between PAS, DAP and PKR was severed in June last year over a series of disputes including PAS’s push for the implementation of the Islamic penal code, or hudud.