No need to drop PAS from Selangor government, Wan Azizah says

(MMO) – PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said that there was no reason to remove PAS lawmakers from the PKR-led Selangor state government.

She explained that PKR’s support for Parti Amanah Negara that is contesting against PAS in two by-elections did not mean the parties could not maintain their cooperation in the state administration.

“It was like that before (the collapse of Pakatan Rakyat).

“So, (PKR’s decision to support PAN) does not really affect the situation,” she was quoted as saying in local daily New Straits Time, referring to Amanah by its Malay acronym.

When asked if PKR’s support for Amanah, a party formed by ousted PAS progressives, would strain ties with the Islamist party, she insisted that it was a non-issue as the by-elections in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar were not state elections.

While campaigning for the Sungai Besar by-election, Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak has repeatedly demanded that the Selangor government state which opposition party it supports, PAS or Amanah.

Pakatan Rakyat collapsed last year when then-allies DAP and PAS clashed over the latter’s bid for hudud, the Islamic penal law.

DAP, PKR and Amanah later formed Pakatan Harapan, but PKR maintained a working relationship with PAS, albeit informally.

Voters in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar will see multiway fights on June 18 as Amanah, PAS and Barisan Nasional (BN) have all fielded candidates.