Guan Eng: Pakatan can fight alone without PAS
(Malay Mail Online) – DAP and PKR will continue the fight on their own if their ally, PAS, decides to withdraw from Pakatan Rakyat (PR), DAP’s Lim Guan Eng has said ahead of the Islamist party’s fractious election.
The DAP secretary-general, who remains adamant in his party’s decision to cut ties with PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, said he can’t stop Hadi from withdrawing the Islamist party from the federal opposition coalition.
“If Hadi wants to take PAS out, he can take it out. We are not worried,” Lim said in a recent interview with Malay Mail Online.
“If push comes to shove, if we have to fight alone, we will fight alone, we can stand on our own two feet,” he added.
The PAS muktamar starting Thursday may see splits within the Islamist party itself or a break up of the PR pact, a PR leader told Malay Mail Online recently.
Lim, who is also Penang chief minister, noted however that there are leaders in PAS who continue to cooperate with the DAP and who want to remain in PR.
He said PR is trying to maintain the coalition now in a loose framework without a formal Leadership Council, saying the council cannot meet as long as Hadi remains PAS president.
“At the moment, there is a structure, it is this loose framework to keep the coalition together, otherwise, there is no coalition at all,” he said.
He added that they have to remain together and consolidate all forces against the opponents, listing the enemies as Umno, Hadi and Barisan Nasional (BN).
Lim then accused Hadi of using the DAP to create religious hatred, claiming the PAS president secretly wants PAS to form a unity government with Umno.
“We can’t work with Hadi when he doesn’t consult us before making major decisions that affect PR, or when he voiced support for Datuk Seri Najib Razak, or when he wants to work to form unity government and when he says Allah allows Muslims to hate DAP because of our opposition to hudud,” he said.
“I believe not all PAS members are supportive of the proposed UG (unity government) and a majority of them support PR because they want to see democracy, freedom, justice and against the Goods and Services Tax (GST),” Lim added.
He brushed aside Hadi and his supporters as “marginal elements of PAS” that do not have the people’s support.
DAP had officially cut all ties with Hadi, but not PAS, after he tabled a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament to remove legal obstacles that prevent the implementation of hudud in Kelantan.
Hadi then reportedly said PAS is ready to sever ties with the DAP for excluding the Islamist party and PKR from its shadow Cabinet.
