PETALING JAYA: PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali reiterated yesterday that the party wanted to continue its political cooperation with PAS in the new opposition coalition.

He said that the cooperation would continue with all the political parties committed to a common agenda to bring change in the country, echoing the sentiments of his party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

“If there are those, including PAS, which are still committed to a common agenda with Pakatan Rakyat (PR), then, of course, we will work together with PAS and any other political party that has the same struggle with PR,” the Selangor menteri besar told reporters after attending the PJ Half Marathon event in Petaling Jaya.

Dr Wan Azizah last Thursday said that PKR is still willing to continue to work together with any party that shares its goals. She brushed off objections from the newly formed Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) on PAS joining the new opposition coalition, saying that it was only the opinion of one member.

Amanah was formed by a PAS splinter group, made of the progressives of the Islamist party. While DAP has been clear about its rejection of PAS, which had cut ties with it under the now-defunct PR, PKR has been reticent about making a stand.

Amanah leader Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said that the four parties, including Amanah, would not be able to work together if PAS was included as the party posed too many problems.

The secular DAP and Islamist PAS have been at odds over various issues, chiefly over the latter’s push for hudud law or the Islamic penal code, and non-cooperation of its president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in digitaledge Daily, on September 7, 2015.