Mat Sabu and PKR betrayed us, says Nik Abduh

(The Star) – PAS central committee member Nik Abduh Nik Aziz trained his guns on party deputy president Mohamad Sabu and PKR for allegedly betraying the party.

The son of PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat said it was unwarranted to turn the tables on PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang over the PKR-created mentri besar crisis in Selangor.

“Who betrayed who? PKR betrayed us when it accepted statutory declarations from two PAS assemblymen to support Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the sole candidate for the mentri besar post.

“To add further insult, PKR tried relentlessly to entice 13 other PAS assemblymen to sign the SDs to support Dr Wan Azizah as the sole candidate,” he said.

Nik Abduh criticised Mohamad Sabu for failing to uphold the central committee’s decision to nominate two candidates and for backing PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who wanted his wife as the sole candidate for the mentri besar post.

He said PAS was labelled a “U-turn” party because of Mohamad Sabu’s failure to defend the collective decision made by the party.

Nik Abduh also hit out at Anwar for disrespecting the collective decision made by the PAS central committee to nominate Dr Wan Azizah as well as PKR deputy president Azmin Ali for the top job in the state.

He said that on Aug 25, the PAS central committee decided not to name any candidate for the post.

However, Hadi used his discretion later to name three candidates as a mark of respect for the Sultan’s decree since Pakatan Rakyat had failed to reach a consensus.

Nik Abduh said this in defence of Hadi, who came under attack following reports that he had submitted the names of PAS assemblymen for the Selangor Palace to consider for the mentri besar post.

Hadi also came under attack for saying that Dr Wan Azizah was not “mentri besar material”.

“The real traitors are the two PAS assemblymen and PKR,” said Nik Abduh, adding that Hadi had even convinced the PAS Syura Council of the need to strengthen ties with Pakatan, but was wrongly accused of trying to pull the party out of the coalition.

He said PKR had done nothing to ease the tension created by it.

In another development, PKR vice-president Tian Chua denied that the party had postponed submitting more names to the Palace for the mentri besar post.

He claimed that PKR was “in touch with the Palace” on the matter and would wait for Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah to respond to its latest letter.

An online news portal reported that Anwar had sent a new letter to the Sultan after the Ruler reprimanded PKR and DAP for submitting only one name for consideration.

At the party’s political bureau meeting on Tuesday, proposals were raised to submit additional names to the Sultan, prompting Anwar to reveal that another letter signed by Dr Wan Azizah was sent to the Palace.

The news portal reported that only Anwar and PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution were aware of the contents of the letter.