PAS declares Pakatan Rakyat as still alive

SHAH ALAM: PAS today indicated that the Pakatan Rakyat coalition is still alive, despite declarations by DAP of an end in the tripartite cooperation.
PAS vice-president Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad said any decision involving the future of the coalition could only be taken through discussions involving all three parties.
"If we want to say that Pakatan is dead at the national level, it can only be decided if all three parties sit together and make the decision that Pakatan is dead," he said.
"If no such decision agreed, it can't (be decided)," he told reporters when met at the lauching of the "Bas Selangorku" programme here.
DAP on June 16 declared that Pakatan which groups the PKR and PAS is no more.
Its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the decision of the PAS muktamar to sever ties with the DAP had "killed" the coalition.
Iskandar said people could come out with various interpretations on the "dead" status stamped on Pakatan, however political cooperation could still be seen on the ground such as in Selangor.
Iskandar, who is the state Exco member, said the cooperation in Selangor between the three parties is business as usual without any turmoil as speculated.
"Selangor does not have any (turmoil). We have to ask those who sit in the state administration on the situation. There is no such problem," he said.
He said should any problem arise between Selangor's Pakatan, the onus is on Mentri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali to resolve it with wisdom.
On the absence of PAS representatives attending a meeting between Selangor's PKR and DAP on June 30, Iskandar said it was normal for such discussion to take place separately.
"I have conducted a lot of meetings with the Mentri Besar before. We had a separate meeting and there was no problem," he said.
Asked on speculation of PKR and DAP planning to ditch PAS to form Pakatan 2.0, Iskandar said it was merely a rumour.
"Currently there are a lot of rumours and it would take a lot of time if I need to respond to all of it.
"We have a much bigger problem (involving the wellbeing of the rakyat)," he said.