Rafizi making a U-turn on the PH-BN issue?

SHAH ALAM - PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli is keeping mum over the proposal for Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) to join forces to form a federal government in Putrajaya as well as state governments in Pahang and Perak.

This, has caused people in the country to make various speculations over the issue.

Previously, the Pandan MP was the most outspoken one in objecting the PH-BN merger if the opposition coalition failed to obtain a simple majority or 112 of the 222 parliamentary seats in the 15th General Election (GE15).

Rafizi in a recent press conference said PKR/PH supporters and voters did not need to worry because he will not accept if there were negotiations between the two parties to merge after GE15.

"If it happens, I will be the first to speak out if there are any negotiations with Umno," he said during a press conference at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya on Nov 1.

After the GE15 results were announced in which PH was unable to form a federal government on its own without joining hands with BN or Perikatan Nasional (PN), Rafizi was said to have kept mum and did not issue any statements regarding the cooperation with BN which was being pioneered by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his student, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

In fact, Rafizi just kept quiet and did not issue any statement after the PH top leadership finished holding a meeting with the BN leadership at a prominent hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

Apart from Anwar and Zahid, the closed meeting was also attended by Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan and many others.

Senior lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics Dr Mazlan Ali said Rafizi's presence in the meeting of top leaders of PH and Umno on Monday showed that he supported the formation of a new political alliance between the two political coalitions.

"If Rafizi did not attend the meeting then it gives the impression that he strongly opposes the proposed new political alliance initiated between BN and PH.

"Previously, Rafizi was one of the people who opposed the merger before GE15, but his presence today (Monday) implies that he does not object to this new collaboration.

"What Rafizi objected to was the proposed merger not only with BN, but also with Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) which wanted to be formed before GE15," he said when contacted by a Sinar Premium.