PETALING JAYA: The Perikatan Nasional retreat for its MPs will focus on a post-mortem of the coalition’s performance in the 15th General Election and preparations for the coming state polls as well as economic issues, says a source.
The source said the two-day retreat, which began yesterday, was also expected to discuss issues, such as having Perikatan’s recent gains labelled as being due to the “green wave” and accusations of corruption against Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia during its time in government.
“These are issues which we will discuss besides the main agenda of the six state elections,” said the source.
“This is the first time that Perikatan MPs are gathering at such a retreat after the last election. There will, of course, be many interesting side-shows,” added the source, who, however, declined to elaborate on these “side-shows”.
Perikatan – which has Bersatu, PAS and Gerakan as component parties – currently has 74 MPs in Dewan Rakyat, which will meet beginning Feb 13.
According to the source, the itinerary for the first day showed that the two top leaders – Perikatan chairman and Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang – giving speeches, followed by a question and answer session.
A session by Perikatan chief whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan on Dewan Rakyat was also slated, as well as the post-mortem on the coalition’s performance in the general election, followed by the way forward by researchers from a think tank and a local university.
The second day of the retreat, which would end after lunch, would focus on discussions on economic issues, added the source.
Earlier yesterday, Opposition Chief Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin announced the retreat on Facebook, which was aimed at further strengthening Perikatan as a team to “champion the voice of the people”.
“Beginning Feb 1, Perikatan would be at a retreat for the Perikatan MPs.
“This is in line with Perikatan’s commitment to be a credible, mature opposition with high integrity to champion the voice of the people and act as a strong team in carrying out check and balance against the government,” he said.
