PAS Youth questions Anwar's dialogue with BN proposal
Although there are merits to dialogue with BN, PAS Youth has questioned why PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim is so keen on it now when similar previous efforts by PAS had been derided.
Although there are merits to dialogue with BN, PAS Youth has questioned why PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim is so keen on it now when similar previous efforts by PAS had been derided.
"Why is Anwar so eager to invite the government for a dialogue when previously the PAS president and other leaders were slammed for suggesting a dialogue with BN.
"We are advising Anwar to be careful with any of the enemies' political games. Our concern is that he can get trapped... by individuals or groups with vested interests," said PAS Youth vice-chief Raja Ahmad Iskandar Raja Yaacob ( right ) in a statement.
Raja Ahmad also pointed out that Anwar had made that statement without even consulting his Pakatan Rakyat partners through the Pakatan presidential council.
As such, PAS Youth urged the Pakatan presidential council to "review Anwar's proposal" and continue to work in the consensus model.
"Cooperation and unity within Pakatan will give the rakyat confidence that Pakatan is capable of governing the country come the next general election," he said.
Anwar in his Merdeka address last week proposed an "
open dialogue
" between Pakatan and BN on national issues like interracial and interreligious tensions and crime.
He however stressed that the call for dialogue was not the same as a proposal for a unity government.
"Dialogues like these happen in any proper democracy," he had said.
Discussions over a unity government had taken place between PAS and Umno in the previous years but did not progress as PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat was vehemently against the idea.
Anwar's urging for dialogue was also rejected by BN leaders including Culture and Tourism Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz, who said the opposition leader always "talks rubbish ( banyak tahi minyak )".
"He talks a lot of rubbish, and we are tired of his lies, like his claim that there were 40,000 Bangladeshis voting in the election," he had said.
BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan also dismissed the proposal.
Agreeing, minister in charge of parliamentary affairs Shahidan Kassim told Sinar Harian that Anwar is guaranteed space to discuss national issues on a bi-partisan platform in Parliament.
