KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 — Negotiations with PAS must be dealt with before the Opposition parties can discuss any mutual agreement for a larger coalition pact, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.
The de facto PKR leader currently serving a five-year jail sentence for sodomy confirmed today the three-party Pakatan Harapan pact is working to pull the conservative Islamist party to its side, after talking to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) pro-tem president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin earlier today.
“Yes, we have agreed to negotiate with PAS,” he was reported saying by news portal Malaysiakini after his meeting with Muhyiddin at the Duta Court Complex.
“Negotiate first, and then we will see our mutual agreements,” he added when asked further if PAS would be part of a new Opposition pact.
PAS has so far maintained that it will not join any coalition that includes its breakaway Parti Amanah Negara or the DAP, with which it had a falling out last year over its Shariah Bill proposal.
Newly formed Parti Pribumi pro-tem president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently said that the leaders in the opposition are targeting a grand coalition by year end.
While most parties have been open to the idea of a grand coalition, PAS's relationship with Pakatan Harapan components DAP and Amanah remains tense.
PAS and DAP's spat over the shariah bill caused the break up of Pakatan Rakyat last year, while some PAS progressives left the party en bloc to form Amanah.
Muhyiddin recently urged to PAS to start sitting on the same table as the other opposition parties while giving a speech to a PAS crowd in Terengganu over the weekend.
