As PKR courts Umno, Amanah demands answers

Malaysiakini:



As PKR courts Umno, Amanah demands answers

Confirmation of informal discussions between PKR and Umno has prompted Amanah to ask several pointed questions on whether Pakatan Harapan should be consorting with its traditional enemy.

In a statement today, Amanah communications director Khalid Abdul Samad (above) said Umno had long been synonymous with racism, corruption, and power abuse.

Should PKR - and by extension Harapan - be exploring cooperation with Umno, Khalid said the question then was whether Umno has changed for the better.

"Should it be that Umno has not changed and we are prepared to work with them, then does it mean that we (PKR and Harapan), which have consistently rejected (Umno), are the ones that have changed?" he asked.

Khalid said Amanah's position was that any alliance between Harapan and other parties meant that Harapan was in charge.

"It has to be asked, is Umno willing to play second fiddle to Harapan? I think we all know the answer," he said.

Khalid added that if indeed Umno can work with Harapan and wanted PKR president Anwar Ibrahim to be prime minister, then there was no need to wait until the next general election as Umno had the numbers to do so.

"All these questions need to be discussed by the Harapan leadership immediately.

"If these (questions) are not put to rest, then Harapan's chances of winning the next election will become slimmer," he said.

It is an open secret that PKR and some Umno figures have been discussing the possibility of toppling Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

On Sept 23 last year, Anwar claimed that he had the numbers to form a government. However, that turned out to be untrue as Muhyiddin succeeded in passing Budget 2021.

Over the past month, three more PKR MPs have defected to join Muhyiddin's Perikatan Nasional coalition.