INTERVIEW An opposition coalition with PAS simply for the sake of convenience will not last, says DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

Lim said this would be an especially bad formula if any party in the coalition cannot move beyond race-based or religion-based politics.

"If we are going to have politics of convenience, where we also play on the politics of race and religion, I don't think we are offering a sustainable solution," he told Malaysiakini in an interview at the DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur last Friday.

Lim said this when asked to comment on disillusion with the opposition after the 2013 general election, especially after PAS and DAP cut ties with each other.

The Gelang Patah MP said the fragmentation within the former opposition coaltion, Pakatan Rakyat, had let down many Malaysians, including himself, but he believes there is always a silver lining.

"It is fortunate that the division of Pakatan Rakyat took place before the next general election. Because, if we had won the 13th general election, we would have faced these internal divisions as the government.

"It is probably for the best that these major fault line surfaced now," Lim said.

He refused to comment when asked if the opposition, now banded under Pakatan Harapan, would need PAS in the next general election.

‘DAP does not dominate the coalition’

Pakatan Harapan consists of PKR, DAP and PAS splinter group Amanah. The new coalition, Lim said, was built on the same common policy framework as that of Pakatan Rakyat before it was dissolved.

Meanwhile, Lim also rubbished any perception that DAP was dominating the opposition coalition, and leading the other parties on a leash.

"We are used to all these accusations. There is no basis for this as far as Pakatan Harapan is concerned, for we in the DAP we never play a role of dictating to anybody.

"It is not a question of one party lording over the others but it is a question of consensus. It was the same thing in Pakatan Rakyat, until this principle of consensus was broken," he said.

Interview conducted by Zikri Kamarulzaman, Norman Goh and Prasadh Michael .