Pakatan Harapan secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail. — Picture by Miera Zulyana
KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — The Opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) has never closed its door to discussions on cooperating with ruling party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) ahead of the 15th general election, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has said.
The PH secretary-general said political understanding between parties can be made in various forms, so as to avoid clashes as observed in several state elections like Melaka and Johor, Mingguan Malaysia reported today.
“For now this matter does not arise. Not at all arising, but this does not mean closing our doors completely because PKR’s political approach is to prepare to explore any potential cooperation in any form.
“If we cannot do it by way of cooperation, maybe we could decide on a political understanding, there are many ways we can do it,” he was quoted as saying in an interview with the Sunday edition of Utusan Malaysia.
Saifuddin Nasution’s remarks follow Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s recent admission to a discussion with Pejuang president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on a potential collaboration for the next general election.
Muhyiddin said political party leaders he had met realised that a majority of voters still do not support Barisan Nasional (BN) due to its perceived kleptocratic image, but multi-cornered fights had led to votes being split between the non-BN parties.
Bersatu had been a component of the PH coalition ahead of the last general election in 2018.
However, Muhyiddin led Bersatu in leaving the coalition in 2020, leading to PH’s collapse despite its monumental victory in GE14.
Dr Mahathir had been prime minister at that time but resigned and was later removed as Bersatu chairman, which prompted him to form Pejuang.
Muhyiddin later joined forces with former political enemy PAS to form the Perikatan Nasional coalition that allied itself with BN and became prime minister from March 2020 to August 2021.