It’s over, PAS elders approve decision to cut ties with PKR

(FMT)  – PAS today formally announced that it was cutting ties with PKR, after the Islamist party’s most powerful council endorsed a decision reached at its recently held general assembly in Kedah to end almost two decades of cooperation with the multiracial party.

The PAS Syura Council today also repeated accusations by delegates from PAS’s Youth and Ulama wings, saying PKR had breached the terms of its political cooperation with PAS.

“(PKR had also) betrayed its political ties with PAS by among others, working with those who want to take down Kelantan’s government (led by PAS), and going against PAS in the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections,” said Syura secretary Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh, following a meeting by the council at the PAS headquarters today.

The two by-elections last year saw PKR throwing its support behind candidates from Amanah, the splinter party formed by former PAS leaders following divisive party elections in 2015.

The motion to end ties with PKR was put forward by 21 PAS divisions, and received support from the Youth and Ulama assemblies held late last month.

The cooperation between the two parties goes back to 1999, after the formation of Parti Keadilan Nasional, the precursor to PKR.

Both had remained allies despite the fallout between PAS and DAP, the other component in the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat.

Following the collapse of the coalition, PKR, DAP and Amanah formed Pakatan Harapan, which now also includes PPBM as its fourth member.

PAS said it was staying out of the coalition saying it would never work with Amanah and DAP.