PETALING JAYA: The four assemblymen who triggered the collapse of the Melaka state government have yet to officially submit applications to join any Pakatan Harapan party, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

       “Although they have expressed their intention to be part of Pakatan, we will wait as we do not want to pre-empt things.

       “We will give them time and opportunity to engage with us,” the PKR president told reporters after chairing the Pakatan presidential council meeting yesterday.

       Anwar was asked to comment on the fate of Datuk Seri Idris Haron (Sungai Udang), Datuk Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu), Datuk Nor Azman Hassan (Telok Mas) and Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor), who were invited to a pre-election event organised by Melaka PKR on Monday.

       The four were given a warm welcome at the event, which did not go down well with DAP as it had openly declared that it would object against Norhizam contesting under the Pakatan banner in the state election.

       On Tuesday, Norhizam said that he would defend his seat as a PKR candidate under the Pakatan coalition, claiming that the party’s top leadership has accepted him.

       In March 2020, the former DAP assemblyman defected from Pakatan – together with Rembia PKR assemblyman Datuk Muhammad Jailani Khamis – causing the collapse of the state government then.

       On the DAP’s objection against Norhizam, Anwar said the matter was not discussed in detail during the three-hour presidential council meeting.

       “We respect the DAP’s views and its reasons. There has yet to be any application, so we did not discuss the matter in detail,” he added.

       Anwar also said that it was decided that state Pakatan chief Adly Zahari would lead the coalition in the coming state polls.

       “We discussed preparations for the polls and the election machinery which will be under the Pakatan banner,” he said.

       On a related issue, Anwar said the coalition was still mulling whether to file a legal challenge against the dissolution of the Melaka state assembly.

       On Monday, Adly said Melaka Pakatan was looking at all legal avenues to stop the state election.

       The Election Commission has fixed Nov 20 for polling.