Political alliances almost always come with compromises, says Nik Nazmi

Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad says political alliances almost always come with compromises — both political and policy-related — which eventually affect a party's principles.

In a post on Threads, the former PKR vice-president said this was one of the reasons many Malaysians had become cynical about politics.

"This is one of the reasons so many Malaysians have become cynical about politics in the first place," he said.

He was responding to political commentator and FMT columnist Tajuddin Rasdi, who wrote yesterday that Wawasan's win in the Negeri Sembilan polls on Aug 1 served as a lesson for Bersama. Tajuddin contended that new parties needed to join forces with more established parties.

Wawasan won three of the four seats it contested last Saturday under the Perikatan Nasional logo.

Nik Nazmi then wondered who exactly Tajuddin thought Bersama should work with.

"Bersatu, which actually received fewer votes in Negeri Sembilan than Bersama did in Johor? The newly launched Barisan Nasional-PN alliance, which already looks like a marriage of convenience and may well collapse under the weight of its own contradictions?" he asked.

Nik Nazmi also said Pakatan Harapan had been "far too slow" in delivering many of the promised institutional and economic reforms.

If the only purpose of politics was to get into the state assembly, Parliament or Cabinet, he said, then he and the party's co-leader Rafizi Ramli had already done that.

He said they did not start Bersama because they wanted another position, but because they wanted to push for reforms and offer an alternative.

"In the end, the most influential partner any political party should seek is not another political party – it is the Malaysian people," he said.