PAS allies wore out Hadi’s patience, says Nik Aziz’s son

(The Star) – The son of Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat said PAS president Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang was forced to make his own decisions to solve the Selangor mentri besar impasse due to the “betrayal” by some of PAS leaders and Pakatan Rakyat allies.

Defending the president, PAS central committee member Nik Abduh Nik Aziz accused two Selangor PAS assemblyman of triggering the treachery when they declared support for PKR’s sole mentri besar candidate, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

“When these two traitors sided with PKR, that’s when PAS’ stability started to crack. PKR has also betrayed our friendship when they accepted the support of these two assemblymen,” said the Pasir Mas MP in a strongly-worded statement.

He claimed the president had chosen to save the relationship between the parties instead of taking a drastic action by pulling the Islamist party from the pact despite facing betrayal from its own men and allies.

The son of the spiritual leader said Hadi had to compromise as the Syura Council’s original decision was contradictory to the stand taken by the central committee during its meeting on Aug 17.

At the meeting, it was decided that the party would withdraw support for Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and named two new candidates for the post including Dr Wan Azizah.

“This shows that our president is a man with a big heart. He could influence the Syura council to accept that Pakatan needs saving.

“Unfortunately, the significant decision only lasted four five hours because the Pakatan leadership later met in Hadi’s absence and decided that only Dr Wan Azizah’s name would be submitted following Azmin’s decision to decline the nomination,” said Nik Abduh, adding that this led to PAS being labelled as a ‘U-turn’ party.

Pakatan’s weak decision has left Hadi facing internal conflict including possible friction with the palace, which had already indicated that it was not favourable to Dr Wan Azizah, he said.

He further questioned PAS’ allies PKR and DAP for not being grateful for Hadi’s numerous attempts to repair the tension.

“Did PKR not see the tolerant attitude displayed by the president? Did DAP give him any breathing room to preserve Pakatan’s stability? No, right?

“So who started the treachery and who is continuing it?” Nik Abduh questioned.

PAS has been blamed for defying Pakatan’s consensus when Hadi personally chose to submit his own list of MB candidates to the Selangor palace.

The list was said to include at least one candidate from PAS, reportedly that of PAS state commissioner Iskandar Samad, who is also Chempaka assemblyman.

Hadi clarified in a speech that he was not backing Dr Wan Azizah for the MB post because she was not qualified and not because she was a woman.

Nik Abduh also warned that the present MB conflict could force the president’s hand in no longer seeking consultation with PKR and DAP and would deliberate on internal issues on his own.

“If yesterday, you saw how united some PAS leaders were with their PKR and DAP counterparts in trying to sabotage their own president, today you are seeing how the ulama factions in the party are fully behind the president’s new action.

“Selamat bertarung di ‘KuborMove’, Jumpa di sana. (Good luck with KuborMove. See you there)”, Nik Abduh added in obvious reference to PKR’s Kajang move that had begun the lengthy crisis with Pakatan.

PAS is contesting the Pengkalan Kubor by-election on Sept 25, in a seat that was formerly contested by PKR.