DAP, Amanah meet with Warisan, Dr M camp to 'coordinate'

DAP and Amanah leaders met with leaders from Dr Mahathir Mohamad's camp and Warisan today, reportedly to coordinate for the upcoming Dewan Rakyat sitting on Monday.

This is after Mahathir declared yesterday that he and five other MPs aligned to him, will be sitting as an independent bloc together with Warisan in the Lower House.

The former prime minister was himself not present at the meeting in Kuala Lumpur, but his son Mukhriz Mahathir, Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik and disputed Bersatu secretary-general Marzuki Yahya were.

Also present was Warisan president Shafie Apdal and Youth chief Azis Jamman, DAP's Lim Guan Eng, Tan Kok Wai, Anthony Loke, and Liew Chin Tong, together with Amanah's Mohamad Sabu, Khalid Samad, and Mahfuz Omar.

When contacted, Maszlee downplayed the meeting as friends meeting up for evening tea.

Khalid (below), however, told Malaysiakini that the meeting was meant to foster opposition unity and maintain ties between Pakatan Harapan and the independent bloc.

"We wanted to meet them to know what their plans are, how we can continue working together... to ensure that the opposition is not split," the Shah Alam MP said.

This includes how to vote during a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

The meeting today comes ahead of a pre-Parliament meeting for Harapan lawmakers tomorrow.

Malaysiakini understands that Mahathir's camp was invited to the meet, but their attendance has not been confirmed.

Asked about PKR's absence from the meeting today, Maszlee (below) said "those friends might be busy".

Khalid, however, said that DAP and Amanah respected that Mahathir did not want to cooperate with PKR.

Asked whether PKR president Anwar Ibrahim was informed of the meeting, the Amanah strategic director said that he was not aware of this.

"I was not informed whether Anwar was told, I was just invited to attend. But it's not like we need permission in Harapan to do things.

"What's important is that Amanah and DAP's role is to ensure that Harapan Plus continues to remain strong," he said.

Ties between Mahathir and Anwar soured after the two could not agree on who should be the prime minister candidate.

DAP and Amanah had tried to convince Anwar to back Mahathir and become his deputy for six months, but PKR had rejected this.

Mahathir then backed Shafie to become prime minister, a move that was endorsed by top leaders from Amanah and DAP.

However, the Harapan presidential council ultimately decided to stick with Anwar as their candidate for prime minister. - Mkini