Opposition musical chairs won’t lead to progress, Pakatan chief sec tells PAS
(MMO) – PKR and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) would be regressing by leaving their existing pact to enter a third political bloc with PAS, Pakatan Harapan chief secretary Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said.
He added that it did not make sense for PKR and PPBM to end its alliance with DAP and Amanah just to join up with PAS, as it would defeat the purpose of having an inclusive multiracial coalition for the next general election.
“The thinking about an Opposition party leaving a coalition is ‘exclusivity’ which is negative, while Pakatan Harapan is talking about ‘inclusivity’ which is positive,” Saifuddin told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.
The PKR leader was responding to PAS vice-president Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah’s call for PKR and PPBM to leave Pakatan Harapan to join the Islamist party’s third bloc Gagasan Sejahtera in order to defeat Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 14th national polls.
“What kind of a multiracial politics are we talking about if you are to exclude DAP which is the party that more than 75 per cent of the Chinese are supporting?
“Amanah is a party that is upholding the higher objectives of Islam and Shariah… what kind of a moderate and progressive politics are we talking about if we exclude Amanah?” Saifuddin asked.
He said an alliance with PAS, PKR and PPBM would result in a predominantly Malay-Muslim government if they were to win the national elections due by next year.
“You can win the election, but you will have a situation where the government is predominantly Malay-Bumi-Muslim, while the opposition is Chinese-non Malay/Muslim. If this happens, you are creating a new politics of race that is more extreme than what we have now,” Saifuddin said.
PPBM is caught between PAS and Pakatan Harapan parties DAP and Amanah, with the Islamist party insisting that suitors must not be partnered with either of its former ally from the defunct Pakatan Rakyat as well as its splinter party.
PAS and PPBM earlier last week formed a joint committee that was tasked with framing an outline for political cooperation between both parties ahead of the 14th general election that must be called by mid next year.
DAP has also sought to re-engage with the Islamist party despite the open hostility between the two stemming from their unresolved argument over PAS’s push to expand Islamic penal laws, but the latter remains adamant that it will not renew ties with the secular party.
Opposition parties continue to stress the importance of avoiding overlaps in the general election that would split their support base to the advantage of BN under the country’s first-past-the-post voting system, but continued acrimony involving DAP, PAS and Amanah has made this virtually unavoidable.
