New Pakatan formed, minus PAS

Wan Azizah invites all opposition parties as well as BN affiliates to join up to 'save the country.'

PETALING JAYA: PKR, DAP and Amanah, announced today that they had formed a coalition called Pakatan Harapan.

In a press statement signed by PKR President Wan Azizah Ismail, DAP Parliamentary Chief Lim Kit Siang and Amanah President Mohamad Sabu, the coalition named jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as its candidate for Prime Minister.

It appeared that PAS confirmed its decision to stay out of Pakatan Harapan by not sending a representative to the round-table meeting this morning, where the agreement to form the coalition was formalised.

However, it also appeared that Wan Azizah was still holding out hope that the Islamist party would join up. “I call on all opposition parties to join us and save this country,” she said at a press conference after the meeting. “Pakatan Harapan opens its membership to any party willing to adhere to its common policy framework.”

It is learnt that PKR had invited PAS to the meeting and received a “thank you” and an apology for the Islamist party’s inability to attend “at the moment.”

Over the past few weeks, several PAS officials have said their party would be willing to cooperate with PKR, but not DAP and Amanah.

Wan Azizah also invited parties currently affiliated with Barisan Nasional to join Pakatan Harapan, but added: “They must be on the same page as us.”

Referring to her husband’s nomination as the coalition’s sole candidate for Prime Minister, she said, “We are confident that Anwar Ibrahim is the suitable candidate to fix the wrongdoings” of BN in its administration of the government.

Asked whether PAS’ exclusion from the coalition would affect the position of Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali, who is her deputy in PKR, Wan Azizah said he still enjoyed the support of PAS and DAP assemblymen.