Hadi tells Mahathir: Don’t wait for us to come around
Your deadline means nothing, the PAS leader tells his party’s suitor.
(FMT) – Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not need to give PAS a deadline, or even wait for it to give an answer to the “will you join us or will you not” question.
This is because the answer is already there, which is that the Islamist party will not work with anyone who is also working with DAP and Amanah, said PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang.
“We already have a stand. The stand is to not cooperate with a party that is with DAP and Amanah. So there is no need to wait because when they are working with DAP and Amanah, then that’s it,” he told reporters here today.
Hadi was responding to the one-month deadline Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) chairman Mahathir gave to PAS to finally decide on whether it will work with other opposition parties in their effort to take down BN.
Mahathir’s ultimatum came after an inconclusive meeting between PPBM’S deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir and PAS’ deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man earlier this month.
Although it was supposed to be a meeting where the two parties finally decide on the formation of an alliance, the only matter they agreed on was to form a joint technical committee that would further study the “framework of political understanding” reached during the meeting.
Mahathir has said that a decision has to be made immediately, so the opposition can start strategising for the next general election.
When asked about Mahathir’s claim that he had refused to meet PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin, Abdul Hadi said this is of course difficult for him to do when PPBM continued to stand with DAP and Amanah.
PAS has labelled the two parties as “traitors” who betrayed the party when they last worked together as components of the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat.
Meanwhile, Hadi also revealed that he would re-evaluate PAS’ ties with PKR. This, he said, would be discussed during the party’s annual muktamar meeting on Apr 28.
“We will decide during the muktamar and the decision will be made public.
“We only have a problem with DAP and Amanah, as they have expressed their objection against our proposal to amend Act 355,” he said in reference to his private member’s bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act.
“That is a line they cannot cross. We also have a policy not to work with any party that is against Islam, or parties that work with those who are against Islam.”
The last time PAS brought a motion to discuss the continuation of a political cooperation with another party was in 2015, where it decided to cut ties with DAP.
This was a move that ended the once strong Pakatan Rakyat. PAS’ progressive leaders then decided to leave the party and form Amanah, which is now a component of a new political coalition Pakatan Harapan.
