Hadi says PAS ready to cut ties with DAP after shadow Cabinet move

(Malay Mail Online) – PAS is ready to sever all ties with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) ally DAP after the secularist party’s exclusion of the Islamist party and PKR in its shadow Cabinet, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said today.

In a report carried by Astro Awani, the PAS president was quoted as saying that the DAP should have taken into account various matters as enshrined in the Federal Constitution, although the report did not clarify what he meant by this.

“If (DAP) wants to leave, then leave, I need to be in Malaysia, Malaysia is a multiracial country.

“We already have many groups and non-Muslim NGOs,” Abdul Hadi was quoted saying.

The PAS chief added that DAP cannot make claims as they are not the only party representing the non-Muslim community in the country.

Earlier this week, DAP’s Lim Guan Eng said that it is not possible “at this moment” for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to form a shadow Cabinet because DAP has lost confidence in Abdul Hadi.

The DAP secretary-general said for the PR leadership to work, there has to be consultation among all three member parties and Hadi had failed to do that when he went ahead to pursue hudud in Kelantan.

The opposition pact’s new parliamentary leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had said that having a shadow Cabinet — an idea that was mooted before but failed to materialise due to irreconcilable differences — would serve as an effective oversight initiative that could help safeguard public interests.

Her proposal comes at a time when PR currently faces deep divisions over PAS’ insistence on pushing ahead with plans to implement hudud in Kelantan.

She said mending ties between PR’s warring parties will also be a top agenda, and that this will be done through a “heart-to-heart” talk with all members in line with the pact’s common policy framework.