With eyes on GE14, Pakatan Harapan drops ‘agree to disagree’ stand
(Malay Mail Online) – Malaysia’s newest federal opposition pact has ditched the “agree to disagree” clause in its recent partnership agreement to avoid a repeat of the moves that led to Pakatan Rakyat’s collapse last year.
The leaders of the Pakatan Harapan alliance concede that the “agree to disagree” concept is not a viable solution to their partnership going forward, even as questions remain over Islamist Parti Amanah Negara’s (Amanah) desire to implement hudud one day.
Agreeing to disagree had been a cornerstone of the now defunct PKR-DAP-PAS common policy framework that ultimately led to the break-up of relations with PAS insisting on rolling out the controversial Shariah penal code, riding roughshod over secular DAP’s objection.
“I don’t want to answer about the ifs. Whatever it is, we refer to the contract. We want to talk about the state of economy, the falling ringgit, the people’s problems,” Amanah vice-chairman Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa told Malay Mail Online when asked about the hudud issue that continues to cast its shadow over the new opposition pact.
While Mujahid dismissed questions regarding hudud as being speculative, he said the “agree to disagree” concept can no longer exist for a viable opposition coalition.
“You can agree to disagree with your political opponent, but not when you are on the same team,” he said.
PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli said there were “sufficient” safeguards in the new Pakatan Harapan agreement to deal with “stubborn parties” and prevent future fallouts that can cause their alliance to break up, like how Pakatan Rakyat did in 2015, after seven years working together.
The agreement makes it necessary for any inter-party dispute to be trashed out at the presidential council, and a resolution must be by consensus, Rafizi said.
“The trauma of Pakatan Rakyat has taught the leadership that maintaining a coalition is as important as maintaining a party,” he added.
He said that as such, there is stronger “unity of purpose” in Pakatan Harapan compared to Pakatan Rakyat.
He also said that if any partner breaches the agreement, it would be through a “conscious” decision and the Pakatan Harapan presidential council will have the power to eject it from the coalition.
Pakatan Harapan’s secretariat chief Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said component parties must accept “responsibilities” for the actions of their partners in the coalition even if it is “bitter”.
“This is about taking responsibility. We can no longer say this is PKR’s problem, DAP’s problem, or Amanah’s problem. The presidential council will be informed and we have to stand by what is decided there,” he said.
He said that as such, the council will attempt to meet every month so fresh issues are constantly addressed.
DAP’s national organising secretary Anthony Loke Siew Fook voiced confidence that Pakatan Harapan will fare better than Pakatan Rakyat even in the event of disagreements, because Amanah is led by “reasonable” individuals.
“Their leaders have always been reasonable. Even when these leaders were with PAS, they were the reasonable ones and were always pro-Pakatan Rakyat,” he said.
Loke and Saifuddin however admitted the mechanisms for disputes within Pakatan Harapan is still a “work in progress”, adding that time is needed to shape their coalition into the ideal.
