Harapan sources: Meeting cancelled after unease over 'political reset' call

 

The Pakatan Harapan presidential council was scheduled to hold a meeting in Parliament this afternoon following the failure to vote down Budget 2021.

However, several MPs who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the meeting has been cancelled with no new date set.

The cancellation comes in the wake of DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu issuing a joint statement this morning calling for a "political reset".

Malaysiakini understands this was one of the agendas of the cancelled meeting - in order to broaden and shore up opposition support.

However, Harapan sources said the statement had caused some uneasiness in the coalition, leading to the meeting's cancellation.

In the statement, Mohamad and Lim said the budget vote showed that there have been no shifts of allegiance from the Perikatan Nasional side, including from those who supposedly supported PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

Therefore, they said Harapan should stop wasting time with these individuals and focus on uniting their friends in the opposition instead. 

Previously, it was reported that Anwar had offered to resign as opposition leader should he fail to prove he has the numbers in the Dewan Rakyat although some sources said he was convinced not to.

One PKR MP said they have no problem with Anwar stepping down if the coalition believes the opposition leader has failed to deliver for the past few months.

However, the source stressed that the efforts made by Anwar were consented by the coalition and the narrative as well as direction for a new Harapan leadership should have been discussed internally first as per Harapan's spirit of consensus.

Shafie Apdal

The PKR lawmaker also ruled out the possibility of appointing Warisan president Shafie Apdal as the next opposition leader.

"If they nominate other leaders within Harapan - which is PKR, DAP and Amanah - then we have no problems in discussing and exploring the idea.

"But to nominate someone out of our coalition, especially the leader of a small party, this would be hard for us to accept,” the source said.

Meanwhile, a DAP lawmaker said the joint statement by Mohamad and Lim was merely to urge Harapan to set things right and move forward as a bigger coalition.

The MP said the primary focus of the meeting today was not to demand a new opposition leader but to ask Anwar and PKR to focus their efforts on opposition allies rather than government backbenchers.

"We also understand that the current situation is a collective responsibility for Harapan and we should not blame Anwar alone. We just want to set things right," the MP added.

Shafie is pushing for a leadership change in the opposition. 

He said that it might not necessarily be him who takes over but an East Malaysian leader should be considered. 

Last night, three DAP lawmakers said the opposition is in need of "new hope" after a poor showing in Parliament.  - Mkini