Amid growing partisanship in the country, NegaraKu patron Ambiga Sreenevasan today appealed for the government, opposition, and civil society to close ranks and address issues plaguing the country.

 

DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, who was present when Ambiga made the call at a forum in Kuala Lumpur today, was quick to support the proposal.

 

Also present was PAS' Parit Buntar MP Mujahid Yusof Rawa ( right ), who likewise agreed to the proposal, stressing that bi-partisan discussion on the country's future does not mean political cooperation.

 

"We support and we will wait for the government parties to respond. We must agree before we can begin one step further," Lim, who sat with Ambiga and Mujahid, told journalists after the forum.

 

Calls for national reconciliation is not new.

 

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, in his victory speech after the 13th General Election, had called for national reconciliation.

 

Even opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, after coming to terms with their defeat at the polls several months later, had made a similar proposal.

 

But that was all they were – calls – and waiting on each other to react, to no avail.

 

Today, as Ambiga renewed the cry for national reconciliation, it is needed more than ever as race relations and the economic situation deteriorated, coupled with massive devastation from the worst floods in decades in the east coast of the peninsula.

 

'If it comes to that level'

 

But it is also the time when Pakatan appears least prepared for national reconciliation that it finds trouble working together from within.

 

Lim, when asked whether DAP will propose at the Pakatan leadership council meeting tomorrow to put in a formal offer to BN for national reconciliation, after a short pause, said: "We will raise it if it comes to that level."

 

When pressed on what he meant by "if it comes to that level",  Lim was coy, merely stating: "Ask me tomorrow."

 

But it was not too difficult to read between the lines. Lim was mindful the Pakatan meeting may not materialise to begin with.

 

DAP has indicated it will not proceed if PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang does not show up and the latter has, to date, refused to give any commitment that he will be present.

 

DAP had insisted that Hadi must be present after the PAS president, over the months, overruled the Pakatan council's decisions, even though they were agreed upon by subordinates whom he had sent in his place.

 

Ambiga, when asked if she is appeased by the politicians' response to her renewed call for national reconciliation, said: "I will not be satisfied until it is done."

 

She added the public must say enough against partisanship in the country and press for all quarters to engage each other.

 

On her part, Ambiga said she will put a proposal to the NegaraKu coalition to write formally to the ruling coalition and opposition for engagement.

 

Despite the apparent support from opposition leaders for national reconciliation, they must first overcome their first hurdle of reconciling among themselves at the Pakatan meeting tomorrow.