Azmin shrugs off PAS’s third force, says it’s extra option at GE14

PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali says there’s still room for Pakatan Harapan to negotiate with PAS’s opposition bloc to prevent multi-cornered fights in the next general election. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, March 14, 2016.PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali today shrugged off PAS’s new opposition pact as a threat to Pakatan Harapan, saying the Islamist party’s yet-to-be-announced third force was only an “extra option” for voters.

He said such alliances were a normal part of democracy and what mattered most was that they all focused on reforming the country.

“It will not stop any efforts to make a change. It will only give one extra option,” the Gombak MP told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

He added that there was still room for Pakatan Harapan to negotiate with PAS’s opposition bloc to prevent multi-cornered fights in the next general election.

But when reporters pointed out that previous discussions between DAP and PAS collapsed, Azmin said he was confident change would happen.

“Never mind, we’ve been friends for decades, we are together with the same objectives. So, God willing, we are confident we can make a change.”

Last Thursday, PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said the party would announce the new opposition bloc on March 16 at the party’s headquarters. 

He said the new pact would compete with Pakatan Harapan, but added that PAS still saw itself as an ally of PKR.

He said PAS was roping in a multiracial party as well as non-governmental organisations into the “third political force”.

Pakatan Harapan was formed between DAP, PKR and Amanah last year after the demise of Pakatan Rakyat, which was set up ahead of the 2008 general election. 

Pakatan Rakyat dissolved after a fallout between DAP and PAS over the Islamist party’s insistence on implementing hudud, the Islamic penal code, in Kelantan. – March 14, 2016.