Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) will not be joining Pakatan Rakyat as a component party but has instead opted to continue its “close cooperation” with the opposition coalition in the fight to topple the BN-led government.

gst 110310 s arutchelvan PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan ( left ) said the decision followed a spirited discussion between two camps in PSM – one in favour of joining Pakatan, and another dead set against it – in a special closed-door session that dragged on until 2am last night that resulted in the compromise.

“There were two viewpoints, one side wanted for PSM to remain independent as a third force in a tri-party system, the other side wanted us to join with Pakatan so that we can bring down BN,” Arutchelvan told Malaysiakini when contacted after the close of the party’s three-day congress in Kuala Lumpur.

The party is not averse, however, to closer cooperation with Pakatan in order to fight the “main enemy,” he noted.

“BN is our main enemy, and Pakatan is our best weapon to wield against the ruling party. We have no problem with using a common logo, or a common platform or manifesto (with Pakatan).

“In fact, we can also sign an electoral pact with Pakatan,” said Arutchlevan further, adding that PSM is opened to campaigning under the Pakatan logo and manifesto in the next general election.

He explained that the compromise was reached so as “not to rock the boat”.

The party, Arutchelvan said, does not want the conflict to worsen and lead to the departure of party members.

Nor does PSM want to spoil the “friendship” it currently enjoys with the opposition coalition, he added.

‘Don’t copy BN’

NONE In the same spirit of friendship with Pakatan, Arutchelvan said party delegates also passed a motion to inform the opposition coalition of PSM’s unhappiness with what it said was Pakatan’s “charity-gifting” during the Hulu Selangor by-election campaign.

“Whatever they have done, BN can also do. So there is no difference between the two. Pakatan needs to differentiate itself,” he added.

Simply giving gifts to the people is good and should be continued, but it must go hand-in-hand with educational programs to educate the people.

Arutchelvan said he believed that the people support Pakatan not because of the ‘gifts’, but because they understand what the opposition coalition is fighting for.

What Pakatan lacks, he claimed, is a concerted effort to inform and educate the people.

“Without an ideology the actions do not matter. This lack of ideology may hinder Pakatan’s efforts in the long run,” he said.

NONE The motion on whether or not to join Pakatan and to censure the opposition coalition over 'BN-style' campaigning in Hulu Selangor discussed were part of 26 items submitted for discussion at the party’s congress which was attended by 300 delegates from nine states.

Other notable motions passed during the congress included socialists party’s criticism of the government’s planned subsidy cuts, the lack of minimum wage.

No use recycling

There was also a motion blaming the deplorable state of the environment on the questionable business practices of “big industries and capitalists” who Arutchelvan said are the “root cause” behind the problem.

“It is no use telling people to recycle, not to use plastic bags and what not, if we don’t pinpoint and solve the root causes,” he added.

PSM has two seats - a state seat (Kota Damansara in Selangor) as well as a parliament seat (Sungai Siput in Perak) - which it won at the 2008 general election under the PKR banner as PSM had not yet been formally registered at the time.

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