It is not beneficial for Pakatan Harapan parties to take on a confrontational stance against PAS, says PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, because the coalition’s main objective is be to dislodge BN from power.

Doing so means it would be necessary to ensure one-on-one fights in the next general election, and that would require Pakatan Harapan to engage with PAS, Rafizi said.

“I don’t think it is beneficial to take a very confrontational approach with PAS, because the final objective is to ensure one-on-one election battles, which are only possible if we maintain some level of engagement.

“So I hope Pakatan Harapan and the opposition bloc can come to a position where we may disagree on certain policy positions and certain views, but we must never lose sight of the big picture - our main enemy is BN and Umno,” he told reporters in Subang last night.

Rafizi was asked about DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng’s statement yesterday that Umno and PAS are so similar that the two parties should ‘get married’ , and that a vote for PAS in the next election is equivalent to a vote for BN.

However, Rafizi countered that such a conclusion was premature, since Pakatan Rakyat only broke up a few months ago and there are still two-and-half years to go before the 14th general election is due.

Despite the behaviour of the top leaders of PAS, he said, PAS had also spent much of its 60-year history opposing BN and its precursor, Alliance.

“This is been only three or four months since the break-up of Pakatan (Rakyat). They would have to go through and reflect (on it).

“That’s why I think the people too have an important role to deliver that message and their expectations to PAS,” he said.