After ‘Pakatan Plus’ list of 107 MPs disputed, Anwar’s office explains how figure was derived

KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's office clarified today the purported level of support among federal lawmakers for the loose grouping including Pakatan Harapan parties and others dubbed “Pakatan Plus”.

This was after Anwar asserted in a video broadcast yesterday there were 107 MPs in support, which his office said today was based on figures represented by the parties present at the coalition’s meeting yesterday.

"Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's office had received many queries about the number of support from MPs on the PH, Warisan (Parti Warisan Sabah) and Bersatu (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) side that is with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"We would like to inform that the 107 MPs as mentioned in his (Anwar's) Facebook Live session on June 10, 2020, is based on the number of those representing each party during PH's meeting with Bersatu and Warisan on June 9, 2020, and has not yet taken into account the number of independent MPs or others who were absent from the meeting," the two-paragraph statement read.

Federal Opposition Leader Anwar yesterday said that all 107 MPs from PH, Dr Mahathir’s Bersatu faction and Warisan will stay united in defending the mandate given to them in the 2018 general election.

Anwar commented that in a meeting that he chaired at the PKR headquarters yesterday, all of them pledged to remain united in resisting Perikatan Nasional (PN)’s “unclean” administration.

“Regardless of the strategy, the Opposition must stand firm together.

“There are currently 107 (MPs) of us in this group. We must make sure the people’s mandate is respected and that the confusion, disgrace and corruption must be stopped,” he said without elaborating further.

It has been rumoured that Pakatan Plus — a moniker for a loose coalition that includes PH, the faction of former component Bersatu now led by Dr Mohamad and Warisan — has managed to gain the upper hand in the Dewan Rakyat, barely a few months after it lost power during the February political crisis.

However, there are still disputes within the coalition over its prime ministerial candidate, with both Dr Mahathir and Anwar’s camps said to still be at loggerheads over the matter.