INTERVIEW | In recent weeks, the impasse over the opposition bloc’s prime minister candidate has spilt over into public tiffs and differing stances among Pakatan Harapan leaders.

Just yesterday, DAP’s Anthony Loke and Amanah’s Khalid Samad disputed a chronology of the coalition’s discussions put forward by PKR treasurer-general Lee Chean Chung.

Meanwhile, DAP and Amanah appear to prefer Dr Mahathir Mohamad as interim prime minister but PKR has insisted on party president Anwar Ibrahim as the candidate.

This adds to existing fissures between PKR and the dissident Bersatu faction aligned with Mahathir.

All this has raised concerns over whether Harapan can survive this rift. One PKR leader has already suggested that the party quit the coalition altogether.

In an online interview with Malaysiakini yesterday, PKR vice-president Chang Lih Kang (above) assured that PKR remained committed to its Harapan allies, and had consistently been transparent with them.

While he disagreed with making private discussions public, he stressed that the coalition would remain intact despite differences in opinion.

“I want to assure our supporters, we are not quarrelling [...]

“We are just having different opinions and Harapan will be intact, we will not part because of one difference,” he said.

“This was especially since PKR, DAP and Amanah leaders had a long history together. We have built it from scratch for 20 years and we treasure each other,” he added.

Yesterday, Chang expressed how he would rather remain in the opposition than back Mahathir as the opposition bloc’s candidate for premier.

As Harapan races against time to overthrow Perikatan Nasional, it remains to be seen if his Harapan allies will agree with him.

Amid talk of a counter-coup, PN has signalled that it is gearing up for a snap election - possibly once the country recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

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