PAS leader claims divorce from Pakatan on cards a year ago

(Malay Mail Online) – PAS conservatives have been looking to exit Pakatan Rakyat (PR) for over a year, the Islamist party’s youth chief Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi reportedly said as cracks widen within the opposition pact following a leaked WhatsApp chat this week.

Nasrudin also told Malay daily Berita Harian that PAS was not the only party in the pact to have examined and plotted a draft of possible scenarios that could result should it quit PR.

“Did you know that even DAP, for example, made similar calculations based on the statements of some of their leaders?” the PAS central committee member was quoted saying.

He added: “In fact, some of them even said openly that DAP would leave Pakatan Rakyat if PAS brings the hudud enactment to Parliament, so…”

Nasruddin claimed that the recent outrage voiced by his PR allies following the leaked chat among PAS leaders was merely a pretence.

PAS Research Centre operations director Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki sparked a storm after a controversial message in a private conversation with PAS central committee members on chat platform WhatsaApp was circulated on social media Monday.

A screencap of the conversation showed Zuhdi had posted a scenario of PAS joining political foe Umno to wrest control of Selangor while retaining Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim — whose party PKR is looking to oust him — as mentri besar.

Zuhdi had also said a PAS-Umno pact would be able to quell dissent from DAP and silence churches and minorities effectively.

Malay Mail Online reported yesterday that the Selangor mentri besar crisis was merely a catalyst for PAS conservatives to steer the party back to its fundamental roots on fighting for an Islamic state.

The clerics faction sees that PAS has lost its way and voice within the multicultural PR pact, forcing the party into compromises on issues such hudud, the Islamic penal code, and “Allah”, the Arabic word for god that Muslims here consider exclusive to Islam.

Senior leaders from PKR, PAS, and DAP agreed last week to consider the nomination of PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to replace Khalid as MB.

Hours after that consensus, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and acting ulama wing chief Datuk Ahmad Yakob openly voiced their support for Khalid to stay on as MB of Malaysia’s richest state.