Pakatan Rakyat rejects unity talks

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Rakyat has rejected the proposed unity talks and the formation of a unity government with Umno.

The three leaders of PKR, PAS and DAP issued a joint statement Monday reiterating their commitment to strengthening the alliance.

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told reporters that the agreement was made after leaders held a meeting on the matter at Anwar’s office at the Parliament building.

However, Anwar said Pakatan Rakyat was willing to hold discussions with Umno and the Barisan Nasional on “issues of national interest.”

“The Pakatan Rakyat Council of Leaders reaffirms our rejection of the idea of forming a unity government with Umno and Barisan, which is clearly a malicious and desperate attempt to compromise the integrity of the increasingly popular Pakatan Rakyat.

“Pakatan Rakyat agrees to adopt an open approach and is willing to hold discussions with Barisan leaders on issues of national interest,” he told reporters.

Anwar said among the issues of national interest were the economic recovery, improving the quality of education, restoring the integrity of the judiciary, abolition of the ISA, the Port Klang Free Zone scandal, abuse of power of the police, corruption, good governance and holding a state election to resolve the Perak crisis.

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, who also attended the meeting, said the party will not talk with Umno on the unity government proposal.

“The way Umno discusses the issue of unity government, it looks like it wants to make PAS feel good and get the party to leave Pakatan Rakyat,” he added.

PAS deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa was absent from the meeting.

Abdul Hadi and Nasharudin had proposed the so-called unity talks with Umno, but its Pakatan allies PKR and DAP have both been against it.

PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat slammed Nasharudin, saying he should quit the party and join Umno.

Earlier, Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said PAS should look into the future and Malay unity as something that will bring stability to all the people.

“Unity talks is not only about Umno and PAS but for the Malay community.

“We have seen how many countries have descended into chaos, like in Iran recently.

“Do we want to be like them? We have seen how the Malays are disunited,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

Shafie rejected the call by Nik Aziz for Umno to apologise to PAS. He said PAS had also made mistakes against Umno.

“If PAS wants us to apologise, so must (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim, because if PAS can accept someone who had criticised them in the past, why then they cannot accept Umno?” he added.

Meanwhile, Nik Aziz said that he withdrew statements he made against PAS deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa.

The issue no longer arose, he said.

SOURCE: StarOnline

Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Monday, "the Barisan Nasional government has the capacity to continue administering the country without the formation of the proposed unity government,"

The prime minister said the Barisan government was strong and had the capability to implement its development programmes.

As such, the question of the Barisan government being weak that there was a need for a unity government did not arise, he told reporters after a meeting of the heads of Malaysian foreign missions at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, here.

He said the government had merely responded positively to a proposal by PAS for a unity government.

Najib was asked to comment on a meeting Monday among PAS, DAP and Parti Keadilan Raykat (PKR) which decided to dismiss the proposal for the formation of a unity government.

Najib said the government had responded positively to the proposal because it assumed that it was for the good of the country.

"We are consistent in our stand. Anything for the good of the country must be worked on together, even if the proposal comes from an opposition party," he said.

The proposal for a unity government came from PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang but it was opposed by many senior leaders of the party itself as well as the party's partners in the opposition alliance, DAP and PKR.

Asked whether the Malays would stand to lose now that the opposition alliance had dismissed the unity government proposal, Najib said: "I don't think so. I hope they are very measured in whatever they do and we will not go overboard with whether we have the talks or we don't have the talks (on the unity government).

"What's important is that we manage our differences and that we always have the nation in our hearts and minds."

Asked whether the unity government talks would reemerge in the future, Najib said anything was possible in politics. - Bernama

SOURCE: StarOnline