DAP today insisted that Pakatan Rakyat no longer exists, refuting Menteri Besar Azmin Ali’s statement that Selangor is still being governed by PR as it was the mandate given by the people.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the old opposition coalition of PR, made up of DAP, PKR and PAS, “no longer exists”.

PR crumbled in 2015 after DAP and PAS ended their cooperation over the Islamist party’s insistence to implement the Shariah penal code in PAS-ruled Kelantan.

The present opposition coalition of Pakatan Harapan (PH) is made up of PKR, DAP, Amanah – a PAS splinter party, and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), which was formed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad and other Umno leaders who had quit party.

Guan Eng, who is also Penang chief minister, reaffirmed that Penang was run by a PH state government.

“We are a PH state. We are all part of PH nationally. There is no PR anymore,” he said at a press conference at the Penang Development Corporation Hari Raya open house today.

Earlier today, Guan Eng’s father, DAP parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang posted on Twitter that Azmin’s statement was “utterly shocking. Unacceptable.”.

Azmin dropped the bombshell assertion yesterday, when he was asked to comment on concerns brought up by Selangor Amanah that the menteri besar was more intent on working with PAS rather than set up a PH secretariat in the state.

The Selangor MB and PKR deputy president stressed that PR still existed because the mandate to govern that state was given to the old opposition coalition, adding that the trust given by the people was more crucial than talking about setting up the PH structure.

“Bersatu just joined in. But at the national level we have yet to resolve the structure.

“We still do not know who is the PH chairman. So, let’s resolve things at national level before it reaches the state,” he had said.

Unlike in Penang, where PAS has only one state seat, Selangor has 13 state representatives from PAS. Three of the PAS assemblymen are in the Selangor executive council. – July 6, 2017.