SHAH ALAM (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Leaders of Malaysia's Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) on Saturday (Nov 28) warned that the party could fail at upcoming elections if members of its Pakatan Harapan opposition alliance failed to work together as one in their battle at the polls.
PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, in a press conference during the party congress on Saturday (Nov 28) at Shah Alam, said the only way for the alliance to win in the upcoming Sarawak state election or the next general election was for it to ensure a straight fight at the polls.
"If we are going to have a three way fight against (the ruling coalition) Barisan Nasional, then we are just handing them the victory," Azmin warned the three-party alliance comprising the PKR, Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the Parti Amanah Negara.
"The principle is simple, which is to maintain a one to one fight, so everyone should do their best to make sure that it would be the only way we fight in the election, " he said.
He added that both the DAP and the Parti Amanah Negara had shown interest in the Sarawak state election.
The opposition Islamist party Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) had also expressed its intention to contest at the election, he said. PAS is a component party of the Pakatan Rakyat opposition alliance that the DAP and PKR both belonged to before its collapse led to the formation of Pakatan Harapan.
"All we need to do now is sort it out and reach a consensus on how we are going to tackle this," he said.
PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar, in the same press conference, told reporters that there was a general consensus for Pakatan Harapan's secretariat chief, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, to manage the negotiations between the component parties.
Saifuddin joined the PKR from Umno in October and has been mainly tasked to manage relations between the parties in the Pakatan Harapan alliance.
There have been frictions among the Sarawak factions of Pakatan Harapan overcompeting claims to seats in the state election. The state election has not been called, but the term of its current sstate assembly is expected to automatically expire on June 20 next year.
Malaysia's next general election is due to be held by 2018.
