KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 — PAS should pull out from the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact, a former leader said today after the Islamist party’s DAP ally suggested a ban on religious and race-based professional or political bodies.

Former Selangor PAS commissioner Datuk Dr Hasan Ali, who was sacked from the opposition party last year, also accused DAP chairman Karpal Singh of challenging the Malay rulers and the constitutional position of Islam as the religion of the federation, and branded him “anti-Islam” and “anti-PAS”.

“Indirectly, Karpal Singh showed his fangs to his party’s ally, which is PAS, because that party has made Islam its struggle since it was formed,” said Hasan in a statement today.

“As a senior lawyer, Karpal Singh should understand and remember the actions that were once taken by the Malay rulers, who had not only endorsed, but encouraged the use of the word “Islam” by any association, including PAS,” added the president of Malay rights group Jati.

Hasan’s remarks come after PAS urged the DAP yesterday to take action against Karpal over his call for the ban during his criticisms against the Muslim Lawyers Association (MLA).

PAS information chief Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said that Karpal’s remarks could hurt ties between both allies in the opposition pact.

Hasan said today that it has become a norm for Karpal to bring up sensitive issues, especially those relating to the Malays and Islam, despite “realising that his actions are a huge slap to PAS”.

Karpal has repeatedly maintained his stand against turning Malaysia into an Islamic state.

Hasan stressed today that PAS delegates at the upcoming party polls should not hesitate to return the Islamist party to its original struggle.

“Whoever besmirches the honour of the party, what more the honour of Islam, is not fit to be made a partner,” said Hasan.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, however, has defended Karpal, saying in a statement yesterday that his party colleague was not calling for PAS to be deregistered, and that such suggestions were an attempt to drive a wedge between partners in the opposition pact.

Karpal said last Tuesday that the MLA should not have been allowed to be formed in the first place as the existing Bar Council was already an adequate professional body that represents all lawyers in the country.

The veteran lawyer’s remarks came after the MLA recently threatened the Bar Council against backing the Catholic Church’s appeal against the Court of Appeal ruling that banned its weekly paper, the Herald, from referring to God as “Allah”.