Pakatan Harapan’s presidential council is expected to deliberate on the NewGen Party’s intentions to rebrand itself and join the coalition when the council meets on Oct 2, said Harapan chief secretary Saifuddin Abdullah.

He confirmed that he has been in contact with the NewGen Party’s leadership and the matter will be referred to the presidential council. Once a decision has been made, then Harapan would be able to respond to NewGen’s plans.

As a matter of principle, Saifuddin said, Harapan welcomes negotiations from all “genuine” opposition parties looking to join the coalition.

However, the coalition would have to consider the fact that its own registration with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) is still pending.

“We have submitted our registration (to the ROS) with four parties. Even at the presidential council, we are very cautious in making our decisions like adding new office bearers and things like that.

“That is why we are a little cautious this time with accepting new members because our application to the ROS for registration is still pending,” Saifuddin told Malaysiakini when met in Kuala Lumpur last night.

NewGen had announced on Sept 23 that it would rename itself the Minorities Rights Action Party (Mira) and would apply to join Harapan.

Its chairperson Rajaretinam Armuggan said NewGen would apply to ROS for the name change sometime this week, and would formally apply to Harapan to join the coalition on the coming Thursday.

Another group that is looking to join Harapan is Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia (PHM), which is an NGO seeking to become a political party.

Asked whether PHM’s interest would also be discussed at next week’s meeting, Saifuddin curtly replied, “Maybe.”