Ibrahim Ali lauds PAS for ‘progressive thinking,’ says can be No 1 party for Malays

(Malay Mail Online) – PAS may replace Umno as the country’s No 1 party for Malays if the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s anchor fails to resolve the many issues facing it, including an internal leadership conflict, Datuk Ibrahim Ali predicted today.

The Perkasa president said the federal opposition Islamist party’s current leadership has demonstrated “progressive thinking” by breaking ties with secular DAP and could not dedicate itself to championing Malay and Muslim causes.

“At the time PAS was still with DAP and Pakatan Rakyat (PR), so we had no choice but to support Umno in our effort to ensure the survival of Malays.

“Now PAS is separated from PR, and Umno is facing a serious crisis as even the Malays are pulling away from the party, PAS stands a chance of being the number one party to represent Malays,” he told a news conference after opening Perkasa’s general assembly here.

However, he said Perkasa with its “hundreds of thousands of supporters” will wait until 2017 before deciding which party to back.

“If by then PAS can prove its capability to become a progressive party, but at the same time is still able to fight for the Malays while Umno remains in crisis, then you can guess who will get our support,” he said.

He stressed that Perkasa was a non-partisan and non-governmental organisation and would support the better party.

Ibrahim also claimed that BN’s victory in retaining Perak in Election 2013 was due to Perkasa’s support.

In his speech earlier, the former federal lawmaker proposed setting up a special council he called Majlis Ukhwah Islamiyah comprising all Muslim political parties to work on issues such as race and religion.