adminMARANG: The relationship between Pas and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) within the Perikatan Nasional (PN) is like a crack waiting to split as the Islamic party is currently studying and examining one by one the contradictions and negative actions taken by its ally.
Its president, Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, said that Bersatu’s action in rejecting the desire to strengthen PN by restricting the membership of Malay-Muslim parties as well as non-extremist non-Muslim parties was something unpleasant.
According to him, PAS wanted to increase the participation of components in the coalition in order to strengthen the Malay-Islamic agenda, but the move was not agreed to by the relevant parties.
“We will study and examine matters like this one by one to see what our next actions will be. This election has its pros and cons and involves our support.”
“If it affects Perikatan Nasional in the election, it means we are not following what we should be doing,” he said at a press conference at his residence in Rusila, here today.
Also present were PAS Secretary-General, Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan; Political Secretary to PAS President, Mohd Syahir Che Sulaiman and PAS Central Committee Member (AJK), Dr Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi.
Asked to comment further on whether PAS would go solo in the upcoming General Election (GE) if no consensus was reached, Abdul Hadi stressed that the party would not go alone since PAS still holds the role as PN chairman.
However, he did not rule out any possibility regarding Bersatu’s membership status in the coalition ahead of the 16th general election (GE16).
“That is a possibility that cannot be answered now because it has not happened yet. Let it happen first. In politics, there are many possibilities. But for the future, Bersatu can no longer do what it did before,” he explained.
Meanwhile, touching on the claim that PAS had been ‘played’ twice by Bersatu, Abdul Hadi said that PAS had chosen to take a patient approach, but reminded that patience has its limits.
He also revealed the reality that occurred during the previous State Election (PRN) and By-Election (PRK), where Bersatu demanded a large number of candidates but did not have sufficient machinery to work.
“They have candidates, but the number of officers is too small compared to the claimed membership of thousands. In the end, when we went down, the only ones working in the field were PAS members. That is the reality and we are taking all these aspects into account,” he said, stressing that PAS will not bow to Bersatu’s wishes on the issue.
So far, Abdul Hadi has informed that PAS has sent a letter to Bersatu on May 9, in addition to face-to-face discussions having also taken place in the PN meeting.
Although no deadline has been set for obtaining a response from Bersatu, PAS has tasked the Ulema Syura Council, the Election Committee and the party’s research division to detail this issue.
Asked whether this latest crisis would affect PN’s performance in the upcoming GE, the Marang MP was confident that PAS’s strength would not be affected at all and that the party was always ready to face elections at any time.
“I don’t think it will affect Perikatan Nasional. We are still contesting under the name of Perikatan Nasional and PAS is still in it.”
“PAS is the main driving force of Perikatan Nasional and the leadership has the right to determine the direction in the election,” he said.
– Agency
