KOTA KINABALU, Aug 3 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) will not take sides in the political “love triangle” involving Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Barisan Nasional (BN), said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The PH chairman and Parti Keadilan Rakyat president has said that the national coalition will instead play a balancing role between the rival blocs to maintain political stability while avoiding three-cornered contests and preventing further division among allies.
“Love can sometimes hurt,” he said with a smile. “But that is the meaning of love.”
He was asked how PH planned on juggling the “love triangle” of PH-BN and PH-GRS as two separate but conflicting pacts in the upcoming state elections.
Anwar said that discussions are ongoing between the respective committees and it was his hope that they could avoid overlapping candidacies between the three coalitions.
“For now we are trying to secure an arrangement where there is no three-corner fight,” he said.
“But in the case it has to happen, our advice is that probably we will try and refrain from entering this battle to avoid creating division,” he said.
When asked whether the situation might confuse voters, Anwar admitted there would be challenges.
“To some areas where there is this conflict, I’m sure it is. This message we have sent to the three parties — PH, BN, and GRS — that our intention is to make sure, if necessary, to secure that sort of understanding, because that is a priority,” he said.
“What is important is for PH to have a constructive goal — to make sure that its presence is to qualify the reformative agenda, and to understand that we need full collaboration of all parties to ensure the stability of a strong state government, which is to me essential to cooperate with the federal government, for the benefit of Sabah and Malaysia,” he said.
The prime minister had previously expressed his hopes for a three way pact but Sabah Umno and GRS had refused an alliance after falling out in early 2023.
