Pakatan Rakyat is dead, says PKR chief Wan Azizah

PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail admits there is no more Pakatan Rakyat following the announcements by both PAS and DAP. – The Malaysian Insider pic, June 17, 2015.

PKR confirmed today that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) had officially ceased to exist following PAS's decision to cut ties with DAP, and DAP's own announcement yesterday declaring the end of the seven-year-old pact.

PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the lynchpin party of the opposition pact regretted both these actions, by PAS and DAP, respectively, but said that their actions meant that PR could no longer function.

"In light of this, the political coalition that is Pakatan Rakyat no longer functions formally," Dr Wan Azizah, who is also the federal opposition leader, said in a statement this evening.

"PKR expresses regret on the resolution that was accepted without debate at the 61st PAS Muktamar and subsequently the DAP Central Executive Committee’s announcement of the end of Pakatan Rakyat that PKR considers hasty," Dr Wan Azizah said, noting that this stance was approved by the party's political bureau at its meeting last night.

She was referring to the motion adopted without debate at PAS's annual general assembly earlier this month to cut ties with DAP. The motion had originated from the Islamist party's ulama wing, and was forced through the assembly of the party's main body, much to the anger of some grassroots delegates.

PAS leaders, however, have said the motion did not represent a final decision, as the matter still had to be decide by the party's Shura council of scholars and clerics.

But DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng moved ahead with a challenge to PAS representatives in the Penang state government, of which he is chief minister, to quit their appointed positions. At least five have done so, including PAS progressives Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa and former deputy president Mohamad Sabu.

DAP then went ahead to declare the end of PR, a decision it made at a meeting of its central executive committee on Monday night.

Dr Wan Azizah's statement was silent on whether PKR would continue to work with DAP, despite calls by Selangor DAP chief Tony Pua to "choose" between DAP or PAS in running Selangor – Malaysia's richest state and also PR's crown jewel which it has held as a model of government should it take federal power someday.

PKR leads the Selangor government and has three PAS exco members. In the 56-seat state legislature, PKR has 13 seats, and DAP and PAS 15 each. Barisan Nasional (BN) has 12 and one is an independent.

However, the PKR president said today that the party was thankful for the "spirit and cooperation" of PR in Selangor under party deputy president Mohamad Azmin Ali, who is the menteri besar, and under DAP's Lim in Penang.

"In the same spirit, and based on the Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework, PKR will continue to give support to the Menteri Besar of Kelantan Datuk Ahmad Yaakob," she said, referring to the PAS government in the northeastern state of the peninsular.

She said PKR would still work at building a coalition, not limited to political parties, to defeat the ruling BN. 

- TMI