PAS-PKR seat clashes from fear of defections, says Hadi
Boo Su-Lyn, TMI
PAS is contesting against PKR in seven seats in Election 2013 out of fear that PKR candidates would defect once elected, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said yesterday.
On Nomination Day last Saturday, PAS and its ally PKR both fielded candidates in one federal seat and six state seats although seat negotiations in the opposition pact were said to have been concluded.
“There were clashes because we want to save Pakatan Rakyat (PR),” Abdul Hadi was recorded as saying yesterday on a YouTube clip titled “Kenapa berlaku pertindihan calon PAS & PKR?” (Why were there clashes between PAS and PKR candidates?).
“We don’t want our government to fall like Perak,” he added.
Two PKR and one DAP assemblymen in Perak defected after Election 2008 to become Barisan Nasional (BN)-friendly independents, causing the collapse of the PR state government.
PKR suffered a string of high-profile defections since Election 2008, where six federal lawmakers quit the party within a year.
Abdul Hadi also said the PKR candidate in one of the contentious seats was a drug dealer who sold methamphetamine, while another was a Marxist.
“We also know of one candidate who subscribes to Marxism and has posters of Karl Marx, Stalin and Lenin at his operations centre. I will not mention who it is but PAS cannot work with people like this,” he said, referring to infamous Russian communist leaders Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.
The PAS syura council reportedly vetoed several candidates last February proposed for the 13th general election by the Islamist party’s leadership over concerns of defections.
Abdul Hadi refused to name the candidates whose loyalty was suspect, but stressed that PAS had no problems co-operating with the DAP and PKR.
