WARISAN and Pejuang do not want to join the Pakatan Harapan coalition as they want to be independent, its youth chief Howard Lee said.

He said both wanted to preserve their identities and come up with their own policies.

Despite their stand, Lee said both parties have so far been supportive of PH.

The DAP youth chief said the key now is to ensure the relationship between all opposition parties remains good and they should build on that going into the next general election.

“They have been invited. Their positions are very clear. They want independence. None of that means we can’t be friends and stay comrade-in-arms.

“We formed a government in Sabah and even then the position was clear. Warisan wanted independence. That was never hidden and never an issue,” Lee told The Malaysian Insight, pointing out how Pakatan had worked with the regional party in its home state after the 2018 general election.

While Warisan and Pejuang are not part of the coalition, they threw their support behind opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to replace Muhyiddin Yassin who resigned after a loss of majority.

Despite garnering all 105 votes from the opposition bloc, Anwar lost out to Ismail Sabri Yaakob who secured the support of 114 members of Parliament to be sworn in as the 9th prime minister.

The Pasir Pinji assemblyman said what was important now was to ensure that all the opposition parties have a good working relationship so that they will not be competing against each other.

“We need to find a consensus. At least then we will not be competing against each other but rather against the common adversary for the best possible results.

“This is an important objective and this is where seat negotiations become the main agenda.”

Last month, Pakatan said it will be taking an open approach to negotiate and collaborate under the “Big Tent” concept with other opposition parties to overcome political games and manoeuvring.

It added that preparations for the 15th general election including talks on seats, a manifesto, the leadership line-up, candidates and a strategy to win the people’s mandate are underway. – September 30, 2021.