PAS, PKR agree to no three-way fights in GE14

PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli said that although they have yet to decide on how to prevent three cornered fights in GE14, PAS had agreed that they would ensure only straight battles against BN for every seat. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, August 12, 2015.

PAS and PKR have agreed there will be no three-cornered fights between the Islamist party, the new opposition coalition and Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election.

In their first official meeting since the death of Pakatan Rakyat (PR), the two parties agreed last Friday that they would ensure straight battles against BN for every seat.

PKR also offered to host a meeting between PAS and DAP to resolve the tension between the two former allies. PAS is now considering the offer.

"I personally offered to host the meeting over curry puffs so that we can reduce the hostility between both parties," PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli told The Malaysian Insider.

During the meeting, PKR was represented by its president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Rafizi and party vice-presidents Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, Chua Tian Chan or Tian Chua, and Dr Shaharuddin Badaruddin.

The PAS delegation had approached PKR to request that it not form an alliance with Gerakan Harapan Baru (GHB), a splinter group comprising PAS professionals who lost at the recent party polls.

But PKR had rejected the request, saying it was their policy to be friendly to both GHB and DAP.

"We have yet to decide how we are going to prevent three-cornered fights, but we came to an agreement on the need to prevent it from happening," said Rafizi.

A source told The Malaysian Insider that PAS insisted in the meeting that it could not work with DAP, and that it made the right choice when it cut ties with the party in June.

PAS also showed PKR evidence that its membership increased by about 5,000 people after ending ties with DAP, said the source.

In urging PKR to cut ties with GHB, the party described the movement as "sulking children who will soon return to PAS's fold".

The Islamist party offered to work with PKR in the coming general election, even though it refused to be a part of the new opposition coalition comprising PKR, DAP and GHB.

It is not known whether PAS has agreed to the decisions made during the meeting, which took place a day before the PAS central committee meeting in Taman Melawar.

The PAS annual congress, or muktamar, in June approved without debate the Dewan Ulama's motion to end ties with DAP, its partner of seven years.

The muktamar's decision prompted DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to declare that Pakatan Rakyat had ended. DAP is now seeking to form a new alliance with GHB and PKR.

- TMI