PAS has agreed to broker a high-level leadership discussion with stakeholders, as to whether or not PSM is compatible with Pakatan Rakyat.

NONE PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan (left) revealed this when contacted, saying it was the main outcome of the party’s hour-long meeting with top PAS leaders yesterday afternoon in Kuala Lumpur.

“They say that the question of whether PSM can be included or not, and the question of ideology has to be discussed with Pakatan more openly,” he said.

“As far as today's meeting (went), we have not progressed much, but we still have a good relationship with PAS. We don't doubt them and look forward to the meeting with Pakatan.”

Arutchelvan said the meeting was initially to create a dialogue between PAS and PSM following remarks by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang that his party cannot back candidates who support Marxism .

NONE This occurred when a PAS candidate and PSM's chairperson Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim (right) contested against one another for the Kota Damansara parliamentary seat in the 13th general election on May 5.

Nasir, the incumbent, contested on a PKR ticket, but came second behind the BN candidate in the multi-corner fight.

Yesterday’s  meeting was chaired by PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu and was attended by the party’s vice-president Salahuddin Ayub and secretary-general Mustafa Ali.

Hadi was represented by his political secretary Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, while PSM was represented by Arutchelvan, Nasir and its Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj.

“We discussed the Kota Damansara issue ... From this meeting I would say that the question of ideology ... is more (an issue of) perception and that needs to be resolved,” said Arutchelvan.

Meeting held in January

PSM had last met with the Pakatan secetariat, consisting of DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, PAS' Mohamad and PKR's Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, on Jan 29.

The meeting, said Arutchelvan, was not about ideology but whether PSM candidates were to contest GE13 on Pakatan component party tickets or directly under the PSM banner.

azlan “This was after we applied to join Pakatan last September. At the meeting, they told us they need to refer to the presidential (council).

“(We did) not get any response about any rejection (even up to now). But we did get a letter stating that they wanted our candidates to use their logos.”

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution, responding to a call by DAP chairperson Karpal Singh last month for Pakatan to review PSM's application, said the opposition coalition has already decided not to accept it.

Pakatan has constantly come under attack by the BN for having component parties with seemingly opposing ideologies.

However, the opposition coalition insists that it can set aside any differences to work together on commonly-agreed policy framework.