PKR VICE president Rafizi Ramli has taken a swipe at Amanah for wanting to accept the four assemblymen who had recently withdrawn their support for Melaka chief minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali’s leadership.
According to the former Pandan MP, the same thing had occurred when Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) was in talks to join the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition back in 2016.
“My colleagues and I who represented PKR in the Presidential Council had pushed for Bersatu to only be accepted as an election ally and not a full-fledged member of the coalition,” Rafizi recalled.
“Those who insisted on having Bersatu as a PH member were the leaders from Amanah and DAP whose excuse was that PKR was weak and divided.
“At one point, PKR was handed an ultimatum – had they persisted, it would be reasonable for the party to part ways with the coalition, seeing as to how Amanah and DAP had already decided to accept Bersatu.
“In order to preserve PH, we were forced to accept (Bersatu) on the condition that there was a strict agreement in place,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
But eventually, Bersatu had jumped ship, taking with it its ‘surge of support’ strategy.
Rafizi went on to claim that history is now repeating itself with Amanah leaders giving the same excuse for wanting to accept the quartet whose defection had triggered the collapse of the Melaka state government.
The four state assemblymen who withdrew their support for Sulaiman are former Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron, Datuk Nor Azman Hassan, Datuk Norhizam Hassan Baktee and Datuk Noor Effandi Ahmad.
“Supposedly Idris and the others will be a boost (for PH) in Melaka,” said Rafizi.
“The problem is, they ‘crow’ only during PH meetings as in the coalition, each party has an equal vote.
“They remain mum outside of meetings because it has long been a practice for PKR to be held accountable (for PH),” he added.
With the recent developments, Rafizi noted that the time has come for the Amanah president and Melaka Amanah chairman to personally convince PH supporters how the entry of the “political frogs” could lead to victory for the coalition in Melaka. – Nov 1, 2021
