KUALA LUMPUR – The “big tent” approach supposedly backed by certain segments within PKR became the focal point of today’s debate between deputy president hopefuls Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Rafizi Ramli.
The issue was first raised by Rafizi, who said employing such a move would mean PKR will have to embrace politicians in the rakyat’s bad books, and urged the party to instead focus on strengthening itself.
Saifuddin, the incumbent secretary-general, said PKR and Pakatan Harapan (PH) have long moved on from the idea of cooperating with rival parties.
Speaking in the 90-minute debate hosted by Sinar Harian, Saifuddin said the suggestion to negotiate with other parties was mooted immediately after the Sheraton Move in February 2020, claiming that PH only needed the support of three MPs at the time to return to federal power.
“The sentiment then was that we needed to do something immediately. It was true we tried to garner support to return to power. We did conduct negotiations.
“If we tried, there was an equal chance of succeeding and failing. But if we didn’t try, we would certainly fail. In the end, when we failed (to garner support), negotiations ceased.
“These (negotiations) only happened at that particular time. Today, the big tent is no longer part of PKR’s agenda.”
To support his claim, Saifuddin said that since PH’s fall, PKR had conducted a series of meetings with party leaders and members, resulting in the production of Positioning Keadilan in GE15, a guidebook for the coming general election.
PH should have ridden public anger
Rafizi questioned why the party even attempted to draw support from political rivals to retain federal power, rather than riding on the wave of public rage and frustration into the next election.
He revealed that in an immediate party meeting following the Sheraton Move, which was also attended by Saifuddin and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, he had objected to suggestions for PH to try and reestablish its support in Parliament.
He argued that doing so would mean the coalition supports the action of party hopping, be it by garnering the backing of Umno lawmakers or those from Bersatu.
“That is why from the start, I have said that the best way is to ride on the emotions and anger of the rakyat over the betrayal against PH. It was even agreed to by Saifuddin and the party then.
“However, I was later informed that the party leadership later decided to enter into negotiations, including with Umno.”
Rafizi also disputed Saifuddin’s claim that negotiations to form a big tent had ceased long ago, alleging that this had persisted even up to the recent Johor election two months ago when certain PKR leaders supposedly met with Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Saifuddin rubbished this allegation, maintaining that PH had only toyed with the idea for a certain period of time and the matter is no longer part of its discussions.
No regret leading negotiations with rivals
Later in a question-and-answer session, Rafizi sought clarification from his colleague pertaining to the latter’s role in negotiating with Umno’s Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Najib Razak in a bid to get Umno MPs to throw their support behind Anwar.
This was in reference to Anwar’s claim in September 2020 of possessing a “strong, formidable, and convincing” backing from MPs to form a government, the majority of which are Malay-Muslim lawmakers.
Saifuddin admitted to approaching these leaders, but said these were done following a consensus from all PH components.
“I was tasked to approach leaders from Sabah and Sarawak, as well as non-PH parties, including Umno. What we wanted was not for them to defect from their parties, but to throw their support behind us.”
Saifuddin reiterated that his action was not done unilaterally but within the knowledge of all PH leaders, with the progress of the negotiations also being reported back to the coalition leadership.
“Do I regret (doing what I did)? I’d say no. I was only executing PH’s decision, and I made my contribution. And if that didn’t succeed, then certainly there is wisdom to it, and I have learned from that episode.” – The Vibes, May 11, 2022
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