PAS agreed in 2008 not to talk about Islamic state, says Mat Sabu

DAP had opposed the implementation of hudud laws for being against the Constitution two years before PAS left Pakatan Rakyat

(FMT) – Amanah president Mohamad Sabu has revealed that PAS had agreed not to talk about an Islamic state in 2008 when the party was forming a partnership with DAP and PKR.

He said this happened during the run-up to the 2008 general election, when there were efforts to form an alliance among the three parties after PAS left Barisan Alternatif following its defeat in the 1999 general election.

“This is something (PAS president) Abdul Hadi Awang did not mention. DAP asked that the notion ‘Negara Islam’ (Islamic state) not be used. And PAS agreed to replace Negara Islam with ‘Negara Berkebajikan’ (welfare state).

“PAS was willing to forgo the Negara Islam notion and replace it. Did any PAS leaders mention this? Why (are they) hiding this fact?” he said at a ceramah at Simpang Jeram, Johor, last night.

Mohamad, fondly known as Mat Sabu, also disputed Hadi’s claim that PAS left Pakatan Rakyat in 2015 because DAP had opposed hudud laws. He said DAP had stated two years earlier it was opposed because implementation of hudud was against the constitution.

The two parties had “agreed to disagree” and carried on their partnership into the 2013 general election.

Mohamad said that in 2008, the three parties had campaigned on the theme of a welfare state and together, they managed to win power in Selangor, Penang, Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan.

While PAS was with DAP in Pakatan Rakyat in 2013, DAP had stated its stand on hudud laws, noting that the late DAP stalwart Karpal Singh had said DAP opposed the laws because it was against the constitution.

“The final decision was to agree to disagree, meaning that we agree on things we can, such as replacing the Internal Security Act, good governance and fighting corruption, as well as upholding the Federal Constitution.

“We disagreed about hudud laws. After the meeting, we continued our partnership in the 2013 election on the basis that we ‘agree to disagree’,” he said.

Pakatan Rakyat, formed in 2008, was dissolved in 2015 after PAS decided to sever its ties with DAP after steadily deteriorating relations between DAP leaders and Hadi, who had sought to amend Kelantan state laws to permit the implementation of the shariah penal code.

Hadi said last Sunday that PAS left Pakatan Rakyat because DAP opposed the implementation of hudud.