SHAH ALAM,Dec 29: PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said Pakatan Harapan could collaborate with any party, even former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, to form a “great, grand coalition” so long as they were aligned to the grouping’s principles.
Asked if he will be extending an invitation to Mahathir (on the planned grand coalition) he said: “That, I will leave to PH. Whoever can be invited, but they need to follow the (PH) principles – not bring their personal agendas or carry on with detrimental actions from the past.”
He was speaking to reporters after the launch of a book titled “100 Art and Literature Essays from the Reformation Period 2008-2011.”
He added that whoever claims to have an interest in becoming prime minister must first commit to reform for good governance and to combat corruption.
“It’s not about protecting your family and your cronies, and enriching them in the name of change or people’s mandate,” he added.
“You must be clear in your agenda to combat excesses, including political corruption, and commit to championing and helping the plight of the rural poor, and the marginalised communities among the rural Malays in the peninsula, the Indian estate workers or the Iban and Kadazan in Sarawak.”
On the proposed grand coalition, he said, generally a Malay coalition or a coalition involving different races should work on bringing about positive changes with the focus on the people’s welfare, instead of protecting corrupt parties.
He said the changes proposed by the coalition must give confidence to the rakyat that they were more serious to solve economic woes and injustices, and to address poverty.
“We cannot depend on the political elite to truly feel the responsibility to solve these problems because they have had the chance to do so for so long, but there has been no commitment. To me, these are root issues.”
Amanah recently supported a proposal from Pejuang for all opposition parties to form a “grand coalition” to face Perikatan Nasional in the next general election.
Amanah president Mohamad Sabu said his party was prepared to play the role of peacemaker to bring opposition parties together to form a grand coalition for the coming polls.
