KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — PKR’s Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad has said that there is a need for a greater sense of inclusiveness among Pakatan Harapan component parties DAP and Parti Amanah Negara, in that any agreements outside of the coalition finalised by the former should be discussed with PKR as well.
The Setiawangsa MP cited the many statements issued by DAP-Amanah which his party was not privy to during the Johor state election last month and the seat negotiations with Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda).
“You can see in the Johor elections there were many statements we were not privy to. Suddenly ‘DAP-Amanah, DAP-Amanah’.
“And then there was the Muda negotiations. For us that wasn’t very nice because Harapan should be talking together,” he was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini in a joint interview with incumbent PKR vice-president Chang Lih Kang.
He said the decision by PKR to contest on a different logo than their Pakatan partners should not be a hindrance to discussions among the three parties.
“We (PKR) used a different logo, but Muda also did not use the Harapan logo.
“Harapan still exists as a registered coalition so there is no issue about DAP and Amanah talking to us about how to approach Muda,” he said.
In the 15th Johor state election, Muda eventually clashed with PKR’s candidate in Larkin following breakdown in seat negotiations. Both candidates lost.
Nik Nazmi noted that the process could have been more inclusive: “Not just Amanah and DAP talk to Muda, leave PKR behind and we have to talk to Muda.”
“That made it a very long process. At the end of the day, we want everyone to do well. We don’t want Harapan or Muda to do badly,” he said.
He also recalled a similar situation involving external negotiations by DAP and Amanah that had taken place prior to the Sabah state election in November 2020.
“Warisan is not even in the Harapan coalition but DAP and Amanah decided to use Warisan’s logo. We (PKR) were fine with it.
“At the end of the day, Harapan still exists as a coalition and so any discussions and all that should be within that framework,” he said.
However, Nik Nazmi did not dismiss the possibility of PKR continuing future talks with Muda based on their shared ideals.
On fielding election candidates in the future, he said Muda should accept being allocated ‘tough seats’ as part of the political process since the party was here to stay in the long run.
“I think what is important to realise is we (PKR) have gone through that period when we had to take the ‘jin bertendang’ (rural) seats.
“There is actually nothing wrong with that. So I think if Muda is in this in the long run… fine you want one or two good seats, but you also have to take the tough seats,” Nik Nazmi said.
Chang also recalled how PKR was allocated 59 Parliamentary seats with 57 of them deemed ‘tough’ when it debuted in the 1999 General Election as part of the now defunct Barisan Alternatif that was formed back in 1998.
“That is what new parties must go through. So I think Muda needs to understand this,” Chang said.
Both Nik Nazmi and Chang are running for two out of four PKR vice-president seats as part of PKR deputy president candidate Rafizi Ramli’s team in the upcoming party elections.
