KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 ― The PAS and Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia (Ikatan) alliance will not last unless they have specific objectives, former minister Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim said today amid the coalition’s ambiguity about hudud.
He said that the new opposition coalition must first decide its role in the current political landscape before it can be seen as a threat to the current ruling regime, Barisan Nasional (BN).
“Firstly, we must ask the question, what is the objective of the coalition? If it is to achieve the majority trust in the political arena, then perhaps it can be seen as such,” he told reporters after an event at the International Islamic University here.
“If it is purely as a fair-weather friendship, then it would not last. They also have to discuss their basis [sic] objective and implementing the means to be an alternative (to BN),” Rais added.
He also said the PAS-Ikatan alliance would have to think of ways to strengthen the economy and to widen understanding of Islam in order to be seen as a true alternative.
On Wednesday, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and his Ikatan counterpart Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir announced their new alliance.
PAS previously formed a partnership with PKR and DAP as Pakatan Rakyat (PR) after the landmark Election 2008. Their pact crumbled last year following disagreements between the conservative Islamist party and the DAP.
PKR and DAP went on to form Pakatan Harapan with PAS offshoot, Parti Amanah Negara.
PAS was invited to join, but declined to do and maintained that PR was still functional without the DAP.
