Why be afraid of your members joining other parties if you have confidence in your organisation?

This was posed by PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad who was asked to respond to PAS Youth chief Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz, who had expressed his wing's dismay with PKR for accepting former PAS parliamentarian Kamaruddin Jaafar into the party.

"In the past, there were a few PKR members who had joined PAS, there was no problem," he said, at the sidelines of the Kongres Mahasiswa Kebangsaan.

"It's a free country. And I heard rumours of some former PKR members wanting to join PAS. If people want to take that path, they should be given the freedom to do so. Why be afraid if you have confidence in your organisation?" asked Nik Nazmi.

Nik Abduh ( photo ) today said that PKR should not have allowed Kamaruddin to join PKR as the two parties were both partners in the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat.

The Pasir Mas MP said Pakatan had a policy of never accepting members from each others' parties in the interest of cordial relations within the coalition.

He added that elected representatives from other parties had wanted to join PAS before, but the Islamist party turned them away to honour the pact within Pakatan.

Nik Nazmi however denied this when pointed out on this.

"(It's) not true, they have done it before in the past," he said.

He cited former PKR members Mohd Anuar Mohd Tahir, who is now Parti Amanah Negara secretary-general and Abdul Rahman Othman who had joined PAS in the past.

"If it is based on the person agreeing with the party's fight, I think there's nothing wrong with this," he said.

PAS' Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar on Saturday questioned if PAS will maintain its cooperation with PKR after Kamaruddin's defection.

PAS had said it will not field candidates in areas contested by PKR in the 14th general election, but has no qualms contesting against former ally DAP.