Pakatan Harapan’s secretariat chief Saifuddin Abdullah today said the Pakatan Harapan convention on Nov 12 will give an indication of the opposition line-up for the next general election.

"Perhaps we will have an agreeement with political parties (at the congress), including outside of Pakatan Harapan and that will give a signal indirectly tough, as to what would the leadership look like and the kind of line-up that we would be offering for the rakyat in the coming general election," he said.

He said this in response to a question by National Human Rights Society (Hakam) chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan, at the launch of a collection of essays titled 'The End of Umno? Essays on Malaysia’s Dominant Party'.

Saifuddin said Pakatan Harapan is now in talks with other parties including Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and PAS.

"Please bear with us. We have our problems. I'm not going to say we're all angels," said Saifuddin, who wrote the foreword for book.

Saifuddin also said Harapan remained firm on its objective to present a united opposition against Barisan Nasional and work towards a one-to-one contest in GE14.

Ambiga had, during the book's launch at the Royal Lake Club in Kuala Lumpur, and questioned Saifuddin on whether the opposition was ready to face the 14th general election, since it had yet to even form a shadow cabinet.

She also demanded that Saifuddin tells Malaysians why they should vote for an opposition that could not even form a shadow cabinet.

Still Anwar for PM

On Harapan's candidate for prime minister, Saifuddin earlier said the federal opposition had maintained their choice of jailed PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

However, he noted that this could not be achieved unless Pakatan forms the federal government and secures Anwar's release from serving his five year jail sentence for sodomy.

"So I am sure you will understand that other names (for prime minister) may crop up. And I am not saying this as a way to escape answering nor am I buying time," he added.

Editor's Note: The article earlier stated that Saifuddin hinted the shadow cabinet will be revealed next month. We regret the error.