PAS won’t let DAP stand in Malay-majority areas

(The Star) – PAS is opposed to DAP’s plan to field Malay candidates in Malay-majority seats in the next general election.

Selangor PAS deputy commissioner and Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad told Utusan Malaysia that PAS would not back down on its opposition because it felt that the Malay community could not accept the idea yet.

“Besides, it is not guaranteed that DAP will win those seats in the next general election,” said Khalid, who revealed that the issue was discussed in a meeting between PAS and PKR.

“DAP is planning to field Malay candidates in Malay-majority seats because it wants to move away from its current image as a single-race party to a multi-racial party. But the move will take time,” said Khalid.

“Nevertheless, we feel this is unfair and we will not bow to its demands,” Khalid added.

Asked about an Utusan columnist’s view that former Selangor PAS commissioner Datuk Dr Hasan Mohamed Ali was the key to unity among the Malays, Khalid said this was the writer’s personal opinion.

On talks that Dr Hasan would receive the Datuk Paduka Mahkota Selangor, which carries the title of Datuk Seri, Khalid said he might because both the Selangor Mentri Besar (Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim) and Selangor state assembly speaker (Datuk Teng Chang Khim) had already been bestowed the award.

“I think the Sultan is fair because the awards are given in sequence to the Mentri Besar (Abdul Khalid), who is from PKR, state assembly speaker (Teng), who is from DAP, and now Dr Hasan, from PAS,” said Khalid.