KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 ― PAS will form a new opposition pact with an unnamed party ahead of the next general election, secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said today.
He added that the Islamist party will soon sign a formal agreement with the partner to become what will be the third opposition pact in the country.
“This coming March 16, we will have a co-operation with a political party… PAS has its own opposition political bloc,” he told reporters when met outside the Parliament lobby today.
Although he declined to identify the potential partner, Takiyuddin hinted that it was a registered multiracial political party.
The Kota Baru MP added that the bloc could take in more members beyond just political parties, claiming that there was also interest from civil society.
“That is our plan. Not only one party, maybe a few more. We are quite big now, one million members. NGOs are also joining the pact,” Takiyuddin said.
But he rejected rumours that PAS was looking to work with Umno, saying that will “never” happen as the Islamist party would like to remain as part of the opposition.
Takiyuddin added that the new bloc will compete against the Pakatan Harapan pact comprising DAP, PKR and Parti Amanah Negara (PAN), a PAS offshoot.
He also did not rule out the possibility of three-way fights with Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional (BN) in polls.
PAS was formerly one of three parties in the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact that denied BN its two-thirds majority in Parliament twice, once in 2008 and again in 2013.
PR fell apart last year owing to disagreements between PAS and DAP over hudud, among others.
PKR and DAP went on to form Pakatan Harapan with Amanah, and although PAS was invited to join, it chose instead to insist that PR was still functional with it and PKR the remaining members.
The Islamist party is also being courted openly by Umno on the basis of Muslim unity.
