KOTA KINABALU – Sabah PKR Youth today shot down suggestions of a grand coalition among opposition MPs.
Sabah PKR Youth information chief Razeef Rakimin said a grand coalition would have no effect if the number of MPs remained at 108.
“Before this, Pakatan Harapan had opened room for other opposition MPs to establish a solid and united opposition front. However, this was rejected. Why has the idea of forming a grand coalition been brought up again?
“If this grand coalition will be able to defeat Perikatan Nasional in the forthcoming general election, why has it been divided?” said Razeef in reference to talks of PH forming a grand coalition.
It is learnt PH leaders from PKR, DAP, and Amanah had a meeting yesterday over plans to unite all the opposition parties in the country.
Sabah-based Warisan – which is not part of PH – led by Semporna MP Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has announced a plan to expand the party to the peninsula.
Razeef also lambasted Shafie for trying to ride on the “unity” slogan introduced by PKR during its inception in 1999.
“PKR is a multiracial and multireligious party. Today, the party has divisions in all 222 parliamentary seats nationwide with over a million members from various backgrounds.
“The PKR unity call is also part of PH. The coalition had used the party’s logo, which symbolises unity, in the 14th general election. It was under the PKR logo that the coalition was able to topple the Barisan Nasional government,” said Razeef.
PH had contested under the PKR logo after it failed to register a single logo with the Registrar of Societies.
He said the situation is different in Sabah, whereby the Warisan-PH alliance failed to defeat BN.
Instead, he said Upko had abandoned BN and allied itself with Warisan-PH to give the alliance the majority and subsequently form the short-lived Warisan-led Sabah government.
Razeef also came to the defence of PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who has been blamed for failing to defeat Budget 2021.
“Isn’t it normal for the opposition to reject the budget? They would not be called the opposition if they had the majority,” he said. – The Vibes, December 17, 2020
