Hasan Ali regrets criticising PAS welfare state idea
(The Malaysian Insider) – Datuk Hasan Ali apologised today for claiming the welfare state championed by PAS deviated from the party’s Islamic agenda.
“I admit some of what I said went too far. I hereby withdraw my comments about the welfare state.
“I apologise to the leadership and party members for going too far,” the PAS central committee member told reporters at his residence here today.
The Selangor state executive councillor also said he was willing to meet the party leadership anytime to explain his comments carried by Umno-linked newspapers.
On Tuesday, the outspoken PAS leader had accused the party of straying from its original struggle for an Islamic state by pushing for a welfare state, as the latter could be championed by anyone and did not have to be based on the Qur’an.
But Hasan said today he now understood the welfare state proposal, adopted at the PAS general assembly in June and approved by the Ulama Syura Council, to be the same as the Islamic state PAS has fought for since the 1970s.
