THE Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council will discuss the relationship between PKR and PAS tomorrow, chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

Dr Mahathir, who is also Bersatu chairman, also refused to comment further when asked if he agrees with PKR’s insistence to negotiate with PAS, saying he needs to ask PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali on the matter.

“Tomorrow we will have a presidential council meeting and we will decide what will happen,” he told reporters after attending the party’s fundraising dinner in Gombak.

He also refused to comment on PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli’s suggestion yesterday that a special congress should be formed immediately to resolve the matter that has split the party and confused grassroots supporters.

Azmin, who is Selangor Mentri Besar, had previously said the PKR leadership wanted to “keep the door open” for PAS despite demands for PAS to resign all of its post in the Selangor government.

PKR had been trying to avoid three-cornered fights with Umno and PAS in the coming elections, which could split votes to the benefit of Umno.

PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had also said she was open to working with PAS in the 14th general election to topple the BN government.

A PKR supreme leadership council member, William Leong had resigned from the party’s powerful political bureau in protest of his party’s continuing courtship of PAS.

Dr Mahathir earlier told Bersatu members that they must be willing to sacrifice and give up their rights in the struggle against Barisan Nasional government.

The former prime minister said Bersatu couldn’t go into general election alone and face 13 component parties from BN without its PH partners.

“To do this, we have to sacrifice and compromise with our partners.

“Cooperation means we are willing to sacrifice our rights so that others can get what are theirs.

“We must sacrifice so that we can distribute power and rights to all in a just and fair manner,” he said.

Meanwhile, as his Merdeka message, Dr Mahathir said he never thought he could Malaysia celebrate its 60th Merdeka, and said people must be thankful that the country didn’t have to go through war to achieve independence.

He also took a dig at Prime Minister Najib Razak, saying that the country didn’t have any administrative problems when the country gained independence.

“We chose the democratic system because we believe that those elected will be responsible people, but now we realise that democratic system doesn’t guarantee you a good leadership.

“Sometimes kleptocrat can still win,” he said. – August 28, 2017.