KUALA TERENGGANU, Aug 2 — Kuala Terengganu PAS said today it has severed ties with Kuala Terengganu MP Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Raja Ahmad because he has joined the newly formed Gerakan Harapan Baharu (GHB) or New Hope Movement.

Kuala Terengganu PAS secretary Mohd Soud alias Said alias Mat Ali said the decision was made at a meeting yesterday and was in keeping with a circular on GHB issued by the PAS national headquarters.

“As is known, he (Raja Kamarul Bahrin) was officially declared as the Terengganu GHB chairman at a GHB gathering on July 31 in Jerteh, Besut, and he has accepted the position,” he said in a statement.

GHB was set up by several PAS leaders who lost in the party elections in June. The movement has applied for registration as a political party.

Raja Kamarul Bahrin won the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat in the general election in 2013 on a PAS ticket, securing a majority of 10,785 votes to beat Datuk Mohd Zubir Embong of the Barisan Nasional and independent candidate Maimun Yusof.

Raja Kamarul Bahrin and Batu Buruk state assemblyman Dr Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi pointed out later that GHB was only an NGO and it was not wrong for them to participate in events organised by NGOs.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan had said that GHB was an NGO, said Raja Kamarul Bahrin when approached by reporters at the Aidilfitri reception of the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary and Batu Buruk state constituencies at a batik textile complex hall in Chendering near here.

Raja Kamarul Bahrin said he had attended an Aidilfitri reception hosted by the Jelajah GHB in Jerteh, Besut, last Friday.

“I do not know of any offer of a position. There was an announcement but no official communication,” he said.

Dr Syed Azman said he and Raja Kamarul Bahrin would leave the matter of the disciplinary action to the PAS leadership. — Bernama