PERMATANG PAUH, April 29 — Penang PAS Youth today backtracked on their previous call for a boycott of PKR’s Permatang Pauh by-election campaign and has decided to support their coalition partner in the May 7 contest, their chief said today.

Mohd Yusni Mat Piah said they are committed to put their backs into PKR’s campaign, though he insisted that the state’s PKR Youth division still need to apologise for allegedly insulting PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

“We unanimously have decided to concede to Central PAS’ orders to help with the Permatang Pauh by-election efforts,” Mohd Yusni said during a press conference today.

“At the same time, we are also firm in our previous stand that Penang AMK should retract their statement that was excessive towards the PAS president, and apologise,” he added.

Mohd Yusni attributed Penang PAS Youth’s previous threat to boycott PKR’s campaign to “naughty” members, adding that the reversal was to ensure that the Permatang Pauh seat does not fall to Barisan Nasional (BN).

“We have not conceded, we’re still firm in our stand but we’ve decided to cooperate because we don’t want the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat to slip from the hands of Pakatan Rakyat, that’s why were still insisting that AMK apologise,” he said, referring to the PKR Youth by its Malay acronym.

“Because the ulama want to defend PAS to stay with Pakatan Rakyat, so we will work together no matter how naughty the youth are,” he added.

This comes after several Penang PAS Youth divisions said on Monday that they will continue to boycott PKR’s campaign in Permatang Pauh, despite previous instructions from their party’s central leadership to stand united with their Pakatan Rakyat (PR) ally.

Youth members from several divisions in Penang including Permatang Pauh and Bukit Mertajam previously stated that they stood by Penang PAS Youth’s previous decision to boycott the polls after PKR allegedly insulted PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang over claims that latter was working with Umno to form a new government.