INTERVIEW | PKR leaders must take heed of the US presidential elections last year as some party leaders continue to court PAS, said the party's former political bureau member William Leong.

In an interview with Malaysiakini yesterday, Leong said many Democrat supporters did not turn up to vote for their party's candidate Hillary Clinton, which led to Donald Trump's shock victory.

In the Malaysian context, surveys have shown that non-Muslims in the country do not support BN, but it does not mean they will back PKR come voting day.

"This is the same thing as Clinton. Those who supported the Democrats did not vote for Trump, but they did not turn up to vote (at all). Trump will still win.

"I feel there is a danger that if we continue to disappoint the people so much that they think it makes no difference whether they vote or not," he said.

If this was indeed the case, then there is no hope for Pakatan Harapan to win the next general election.

Leong, who is a two-term MP for Selayang and the party's former treasurer, said PAS is currently gearing up for multi-cornered contests while PKR was not doing so and still trying to court its former ally.

"As a political party, PAS is doing what it should be doing, but we are not doing so as we are proceeding on the basis of appeasing PAS.

"Imagine you have a girlfriend who says no. How many times you want your girlfriend to say no?" he asked.

Principled stand

As for Selangor - the only state which PKR controls - PAS poses a real threat to Harapan as the party's members are not only part of the executive, but are entrenched at the local level.

"PAS is not only holding on to three exco positions. They have local council and village committee positions.

"With this, they have power, funding and resources, which they have been using to strengthen themselves, and we are excluded from this," he said.

As an example, Leong cited how PAS was in control of most mosques and prayer halls in the state, which are off-limits to preachers affiliated with other political parties.

"We have our uztad (preachers), but they can't go in (to those mosques), reason being that they talk about politics. But what do you think the PAS uztad talks about?" he asked.

Leong said surveys have shown that PAS has the support of around 20 to 30 percent of the electorate, but this should not be a basis for a PKR-PAS collaboration because PAS is an obstacle towards true change that the country needs.

"We must take charge of our future. So many of our people have gone to the streets to protest, face detention, jail and the ISA (Internal Security Act). These people have shown courage to seek change.

"If we suddenly become pragmatic and follow the mainstream, we are actually sacrificing the efforts of all these people over the last 20 years," he said.

On whether jettisoning PAS altogether would sour Harapan's chances of winning, Leong said this was not a certainty and even if this was the case, then PKR's principles would still be intact.

Yesterday: PKR's Leong prepared to let political career burn

GAN SHAO QI is an intern at Malaysiakini. She is part of Malaysian Law Students Union in the United Kingdom and Ireland (KPUM)'s Beyond The Bar internship programme.