The Pakatan Rakyat inter-party disciplinary committee will not be a paper tiger but will have real power to ensure compliance, said its newly-appointed president R Sivarasa.

This is because each of the three parties in the coalition will have two representatives in the committee.

"Our recommendations will be made jointly and will be submitted to the leadership council for approval, before being communicated to the (respective) parties for action to be taken," he said.

NONE Sivarasa ( right ), who is PKR vice-president, said component parties will therefore be less likely to reject the recommendations, as these would have been made jointly.

The committee is in its early stages of formation, and its current objective is to prepare the guidelines first.

"For example, we need to decide on how action will be taken against those who breach discipline," he said.

There will be a briefing on this for the leadership council at the next meeting, scheduled to be held within the next three weeks.

Sivarasa clarified that the committee will not investigate issues specific to each party, but will focus on inter-party affairs.

"If there are frictions within a particular party, we will not interfere," he said.

When asked, Sivarasa said the committee will not only act on complaints but will take the initiative to investigate matters whenever there is a public demand or if the issue has been highlighted.

"(The formation of the) committee can be seen as an indication that Pakatan is moving towards to becoming a better coalition.

"Although I admit that we are still a work in progress, we are much better off compared to Barisan Nasional, which does not even have an inter-party disciplinary committee."

First meeting soon

DAP will be represented by Wanita head Chong Eng and Perak chief Ngeh Koo Ham, while PAS will be represented by disciplinary committee chief Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

Sivarasa said the full list of representatives has not been received to date.

When contacted, Chong ( left ) women awareness in politic talk 090109 chong eng confirmed that the guidelines for the committee have not been formulated as it has yet to meet officially.

"We will meet soon to decide on issues pertaining to this committee," she added.

The committee was formed in response to recent events that saw conflict between members of Pakatan component parties.

PKR's Zulkifli Noordin, for example, had lodged a police report against Khalid Samad of PAS over an issue related to the use of ‘Allah' by non-Muslims. Problems have also arisen in the Pakatan-led Penang government.