Mat Sabu to gauge support for new party

(Bernama) – PAS ex-deputy president Mohamad Sabu said he and other leaders ousted in the party elections are going to the grassroots to gauge their support to form a new party.

“We will decide in a month or two on forming a new party,” Mat Sabu told reporters after a PAS appreciation programme in Bakri here last night.

Also present at the function were the party’s former vice-president Salahuddin Ayub and central committee members Khalid Samad, Dzulkefly Ahmad, Hatta Ramli, Mujahid Yusof Rawa and Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

Others were former Kedah PAS commissioner and Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar, and former Johor PAS commissioner Aminolhuda Hassan.

Mat Sabu, who is also former Penang PAS commissioner was asked whether DAP’s declaration yesterday that Pakatan Rakyat did not exist anymore would prompt them to form a new party and a new alliance.

“We will continue to work with other parties with similar aspirations, including DAP to replace the government.

“As individuals we are at liberty to meet anyone. In fact I was invited to give a talk here as an ordinary PAS member. In a sense, I’m not too tied up by party protocol,” he said.

On whether he and his group would be meeting the grassroots under an organisation such as the Persatuan Ummah Sejahtera Malaysia (Pasma), he replied in the negative.

On the possibility of being suspended from the party for their roadshow, he said it was up to the PAS leadership: “We will continue to serve in our capacity as ordinary members”.

After Johor, the group would organise a similar event in Pahang on June 26.