PAS forgot Islamic struggle during time in Pakatan Rakyat, says Ikatan president

(The Sun Daily) – Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia (Ikatan) president Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said that PAS had forgotten its struggle on Islamic and Malay agenda when it was part of the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat.

The veteran politician said he was afraid to approach the Islamist party soon after he left Umno as PAS had been too friendly with PKR and DAP.

PAS, he added, had wanted to be in the good books of the DAP that it had forgotten its initial struggle.

“At that time, they (PAS) was too friendly with PKR and DAP under Pakatan Rakyat. I was frightened to see that as sometimes they came out with speeches to flatter DAP and it gave me goosebumps, ” he said at a ceramah in Sungai Panjang on Wednesday night.

He said PAS had forgotten their Bumiputra, Malay and Islamic agenda,” he told a crowd of about 100 people.

Abdul Kadir said the 13th General Election had shown PAS’ true colour with many of its members feeling unhappy with the political cooperation.

“I was relieved when PAS returned to its original path to fight for religion and race,” he said.

Ikatan had formed an ally with PAS in March to serve as a third political force in the country, after Barisan Nasional and federal opposition pact Pakatan Harapan.

Abdul Kadir also drew resemblance between PAS and Umno, stating that both parties are the backbone in the country’s political scene.

He added any political party dreaming of taking the government’s seat must gain the support of either one of the political powerhouses.

“If not, the (new) government will become weak. It will fall and change of government will happen in four to five months. It must have the backbone (parties),” he said.

He also said that history of the world had proven that any government that holds the helm for more than 30 years will become arrogant and involve in corruption and forgets that political power lies in the hands of rakyat.

“But Malaysia is a miracle case as the government has been in power for close to 60 years… A world champion,” he said in a jest.