By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR

Three major Malaysian opposition parties formalized their new alliance Saturday by inking a seven-point agreement stressing unity after its predecessor disbanded due to an internal dispute.

The agreement and code of conduct was designed to enable the Hope Pact – comprised of jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's People's Justice Party, the ethnic Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the newly-formed National Trust Party – to focus on preparing for the next general election due in 2018.

The Hope Pact was formed after its predecessor the People’s Pact was dissolved due to differences in the implementation of Islamic law in one of the opposition-ruled states, a proposal supported by the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).

After its party election in June, an elite group within PAS separated to form the multi-racial National Trust Party that replaced PAS in the new federal opposition pact.

Opposition leader Dr .Wan Azizah Wan Ismail – Ibrahim’s wife -- said Saturday that the new alliance seeks to focus on delivering a viable alternative to voters in the next general polls to topple the long-ruling National Alliance.

In a statement issued at the signing ceremony, she said the code of conduct was designed based on lessons learned from past mistakes, and on the parties' agreement to avoid the "agree to disagree" approach that failed the People's Pact last year.

She added that of the bodies formed in the alliance, one “is a formal election committee to negotiate seat distribution between the three parties for elections and to choose the coalition's official candidate for each seat.”

Meanwhile, another will serve as “a mediation board to settle feuds between parties."

The Hope Pact had earlier declared that Ibrahim – imprisoned for sodomy in a case widely criticized as politically motivated – would be the coalition's prime ministerial candidate if it wins the next national polls.

Since the split, the PAS has been observed improving its relations with the United Malays National Organization, the sole party to rule Malaysia since independence in 1957.