Pakatan say no to unity gov’t, pledges loyalty to each other

Today is certainly an important day for Malaysia.

Key decisions affecting the country’s immediate future were made and it is now a step clearer how the country will be governed over the next few years.

As with the stock market, there will be gyrations now and then as the two main protagonists slug it out in the political arena.

But what is sure and necessary for all Malaysians and foreign investors in the country to know is that it will be firmly a two-party coalition system.

The Pakatan Rakyat offering its own brand of new politics and the Umno-BN peddling its decades-old concotion of paternalistic policies.

On Monday, the Pakatan announced its decision to reject a proposal from Umno to form a unity government, dealing a death-blow to speculation that partners PKR, DAP and PAS would split, with PAS opting to cross over and build a new Malay power-pact with Umno.

Instead, the trio reiterated their loyalty to each other and renewed a pledge to strengthen their coalition with the express aim of forming the next the federal government.

Indeed words of comfort to many Malaysians, although they may at the same time elicit fear from Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Umno-BN.

“The Pakatan council of leaders has reaffirmed our rejection of the idea of forming a unity government with Umno/BN which is clearly a malicious and desperate attempt to compromise the integrity of the increasingly popular Pakatan Rakyat,” the leaders said in a joint statement released on Monday.

“Pakatan agrees to adopt an open approach and is willing to hold discussions with the leaders of BN on issues of national interests.” (SK)