Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) political science senior lecturer Mohamad Agus Yusoff said Amanah was a progressive Islamic party while PKR had a mixed ideology.

“They have different political approaches, different types of voters, different ideologies, different types of supporters.

“Their merger will not be the best solution to strengthen the opposition pact.

“They need to continue fighting for their ideologies because they have different types of supporters,” he told FMT.

Agus was responding to a suggestion by PKR Youth deputy chief Afif Bahardin for a PKR-Amanah merger.

Afif had said both parties shared common values and subscribed to multiracialism and moderate Islam, and the merger of the two would lead to a stronger opposition in time for the next polls

Agus, however, said it was too early for the two political parties to merge.

“I don’t think Amanah will buy the idea for now because the merger may be irrelevant.”

Another political analyst, political and social sciences professor Ahmad Atory Hussain had a different view.

He said the merger of the two parties would guard Amanah against attacks from PAS.

“If Amanah and PKR unite, they will have a stronger opposition pact.

“PAS will not be able to criticise Amanah as much as now and it may also see PAS working together with Pakatan Harapan.”

Atory said the merger would strengthen the opposition pact.