JOHOR BARU: Parties seeking to join Perikatan Nasional must be prepared to accept and work with its existing components, says the Malaysian Indian People’s Party (MIPP) president P. Punithan.
He said Perikatan already has full representation through Bersatu, PAS, Gerakan and MIPP, which worked well and any new party must be prepared to fit the coalition’s existing “mould”.
“We have no issues among ourselves. Our meetings are calm and focused on strengthening Perikatan and championing the people’s issues,” he said after attending a Johor MIPP event at Taman Tampoi Indah on Sunday (Nov 16) night.
Punithan said that any party aspiring to join the coalition must accept this reality.
“This is the Perikatan family. If you want to join, you must accept this reality because we are ready to lead the country, and anyone who comes in must be aligned with that direction,” he said.
Commenting on MIC’s announcement that it had passed a resolution empowering its central committee to decide whether to leave Barisan Nasional and join Perikatan, he said the development was not a surprise.
He noted that MIC had previously issued statements signalling its intention to move in that direction.
“We expected they might express the desire to leave or join Perikatan, but neither happened today. So we wait for their final decision,” he said.
He added that many other political parties besides MIC have also approached Perikatan to explore joining the coalition.
“As Perikatan deputy chairman, I can say many parties have been discussing with us about joining. We are open to it, but we also have a consensus process within our coalition,” he said.
He added that all Perikatan components must agree upon any admission of new parties and must not clash with the ideologies of existing members, especially PAS and Gerakan.
“We don’t want a situation where a party joins and later disagrees with this or that, or objects to what another component says. They must be ready to accept the coalition as it is,” he said.
