KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 — Some within PKR ranks have said they are reluctant to accept the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) as part of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition for the next general election (GE15).
News portal The Malaysian Insight reported that PKR Youth leaders and members were particularly wary after what transpired in the Johor state election.
They are said to hold Muda responsible for the defeat of the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim-led party in Larkin, which the latter had been confident of capturing. The seat went to Umno.
PKR Youth chief Adam Adli Abdul Halim reportedly said that the decision to cooperate with Muda must be based on the willingness of grassroots, but with lessons from Larkin in play too.
“That is what complicates the decision. So in terms of that, there has been some good and bad experience working with Muda.
“But time must be given for the grassroots and also other parties (in PH) to make a decision because when it comes to GE15, we want to work on the grassroots,” he was quoted as saying.
Echoing Adam, PKR Youth strategy director Bryan Ng Yih Miin said that there were various reasons for the party’s reluctance to accept Muda as part of the Opposition’s biggest coalition.
Ng reportedly claimed that Muda has been openly talking about contesting Petaling Jaya which incumbent MP, PKR’s Maria Chin Abdullah, secured in GE14.
“There must be a closed-door discussion on things like this, not openly put on Twitter. There’s no maturity from them when it comes to things like this.
“In Larkin, they went against PKR. That particular seat, before nomination, had been agreed for PKR, but then they suddenly made their own decision to contest against us.
“You can’t make a unilateral decision and tell the whole world without consulting us if we are to work together,” Ng, who is also Petaling Jaya PKR Youth chief, was quoted as saying.
Muda is no stranger to working with PH. Apart from the Johor state election, they have joined forces for countless demonstrations.
A fissure in the relationship emerged after Muda decided to go against PKR in Larkin for the Johor state polls despite agreeing to cooperate over the seat to defeat Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Barisan Nasional (BN). Some in PKR see this as the reason for Umno candidate Mohd Hairi Mad Shah’s win.
Yesterday, Anwar said that a decision would be made soon about Muda’s proposal to join the coalition.
Last week, Syed Saddiq openly expressed Muda’s intention to join PH ahead of GE15.
