KUALA LUMPUR, Tues: Pas elections director Datuk Mustafa Ali has called on Pakatan Rakyat leaders to stop talking about forming a unity government with Umno until the next general election. Statements of such talks were misleading and had created a lot of confusion among Pas members and supporters, he said.
Instead, Mustafa said PR leaders should be concentrating on the Manik Urai by-election next month and work towards winning the seat.
“In the by-election, we have to fight Umno. Unity government talk is irrelevant now,” he said at press conference at Pas headquarters today.
He said the idea of a unity government was discussed at a meeting of Pas members and many did not approved of it.
“The party president just threw up the idea of a unity government. There was no decision on it,” he said aading that PR should now focus on engaging its partners in the coalition rather than engaging with Umno.
Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang reopened the door for talks to set up a unity government by PR and Barisan Nasional, after opening the 55th Pas Muktamar last week.
He said the proposal, which he had mooted earlier this year, had now received support from Pas’ partners, Parti Keadilan Rakyat and DAP, paving the way for possible discussions with the BN government.
Hadi said there were objections to the plan because people did not understand the concept.
Previously, Hadi’s proposal was met with strong opposition from Pas spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who said cooperation between Pas and BN had been tried before and failed.
In April, Hadi decided to suspend the talks, saying he needed to evaluate the new leadership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the talks were previously held with then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.- NST
