A Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leader today confirmed that a meeting was held between DAP leaders and PKR adviser Anwar Ibrahim contrary to a denial by DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

PKR deputy secretary-general Dr Xavier Jayakumar said he was puzzled why there should be a denial over the meeting.

"Guan Eng shook hands with all of us (PKR supreme council members) before he left Anwar's house after the meeting," he told malaysiakini when contacted.

Earlier this week, Lim denied there was meeting with Anwar or that a proposal to rejoin the Barisan Alternatif (BA) - which it left in 2001 - is on the cards.

Jayakumar explained that he and other supreme council members bumped into Guan Eng after they were called by Anwar for a briefing at the latter's house on Jan 16 - the same day the council held its first meeting after the party's inaugural congress and election last month.

According to him, two other top DAP leaders were also present during the meeting with Anwar but they had left before the PKR supreme council members arrived.

He refused to name the duo but it is reliably learnt that they were DAP chairperson Karpal Singh and its former chief Lim Kit Siang, who is also the parliamentary opposition leader.

Joint declaration

Jayakumar revealed that Anwar later briefed the supreme council on his efforts in mediating between DAP and PAS in order to get the opposition parties to reach a common understanding and to work more closely together.

He said the council was very supportive of Anwar's move and requested him to continue with his efforts.

Malaysiakini learnt that a joint declaration was being drafted between BA and DAP after Anwar initiated the secret meetings with DAP and PAS lately.

The document aims to adopt a common struggle among opposition parties and among others, it is said to contain a proposed assertion that "Malaysia is not an Islamic state".

However the assertion is expected to head into a brick wall although the PAS leadership has earlier agreed to 'soften' its stance on the controversial Islamic state policy.

The document was supposed to be released this week but has since been delayed.

DAP has reiterated that there is no room for discussion on any possibility to rejoin BA until PAS "abandons" its intention to set up Islamic state should it came into power.

Face-to-face meeting

Meanwhile, PAS Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub urged DAP to agree to a face-to-face meeting as soon as possible in order to thrash out their differences.

"We have to sit down for a serious discussion. We should settle our problems before the end of this year if we are really sincere in having a strong coalition," he said when contacted, adding that PAS is "very keen and willing" to meet with DAP.

Salahuddin also expressed his optimism on the new DAP leadership led by Guan Eng saying that "Guan Eng is capable of resolving their differences amicably".

"He is a new and young leader in DAP, and there are also other new blood in DAP and PAS, so I believe we could strengthen our common struggle in the near future," the PAS youth chief added.