IT is unnecessary and even absurd for PKR to hold a special congress to discuss the party’s decision to negotiate with PAS, a party youth leader said.

PKR Youth deputy chief  Dr Afif Bahardin said it was absurd to call for a special congress when the party should be focused on getting ready for the next general election.

He said party secretary-general Rafizi Ramli claiming that the decision to engage PAS in talks was a call by a faction led by Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali was “wildly inaccurate” and had taken the party “by surprise”.

He said Rafizi might not be aware of the real situation “since he has not attended political bureau meetings for a very long time now”.

“There are two matters which I wish to clarify. First, it is entirely false to claim or insinuate that it is the decision of an Azmin-led faction to negotiate with Pas. 

“The decision to negotiate was a collective decision of the PKR Political Bureau chaired by party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. This effort is also endorsed by imprisoned de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

“Secondly, contrary to the insinuations and deliberate ambiguities in Rafizi’s statement, there is no intention whatsoever to include PAS in the Pakatan Harapan coalition. The negotiations are solely to prevent three-cornered contests in the general election, and to increase the chances of victoru for PKR and the opposition parties,” he said in a statement today.

Dr Afif, who is also Penang PH Youth chief, said there was “absolutely no necessity for a special congress of the party to be assembled”.

“It would be the height of absurdity to hold a special congress for no good reason, when all efforts should be directed to preparations for the general election,” he said.

He said Rafizi should have suggested to party secretary-general Saifudin Nasution Ismail to call for the routine Central Leadership Council (Majlis Pimpinan Pusat) meeting, which had not convened since May 19.

The PAS question has divided PKR between those in favour of talking with PAS over seats to avoid three-cornered fights, and those against the  idea  as PAS had severed ties with PKR in May this year.

Yesterday, Rafizi said a special congress should be formed to resolve once and for all the relationship between PAS and the Selangor government. (https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/12526/

The Pandan MP said survey results by INVOKE – a pollster he co-founded – found that three-cornered fights would favour PH should the coalition maintain at least 30% support of the Malays. 

Earlier today, a group of PKR grassroot leaders announced that they were in favour of a special congress to discuss the PAS question, as the “mixed signals” from the top had left them confused.

Committee chairman Yusuf Tapar said they needed 73 PKR divisions of the total 218 to support the push for the special congress. He 56 divisions were noe in favour.

Last Monday, Selayang MP William Leong resigned from PKR’s political bureau in protest against his party leadership’s stance of continuing to court PAS into forming an electoral pact. 

The PKR supreme leadership council member said he did not agree with his party cooperating with PAS when it was clear that the Islamist party already had an arrangement with Umno.

On Saturday, Azmin said PKR and PAS had yet to have formal talks. He also said the decision to engage with PAS was not his personal initiative, as alleged by others.