KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — Parti Amanah Negara has questioned PAS’s decision to cooperate with controversial Malay rights group Perkasa, pointing out that the Islamist opposition party had previously shown it was against racism.

Amanah strategy director Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said PAS has changed its position from being an inclusive Islamist party to now leaning towards the right and merging its Islamic image with a Malay identity.

“Racism is against Islam,” Dzulkefly told Malay Mail Online.

“Perkasa is not wrong to be Malay, but racism is something else. The greatest problem among other things is racism. You cannot embrace one that advocates such things,” he added.

PAS and Malay right-leaning NGO Perkasa announced yesterday the start of their formal working relationship on three issues: the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy, the recent detentions under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s political secretary Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, however, was quick to clarify that the Islamist party did not enter a “formal cooperation” with Perkasa, but merely “agreed” on those three issues.

Perkasa is a controversial right-leaning group that champions Malay interests, with president Datuk Ibrahim Ali allegedly threatening in 2013 to burn Malay-language bibles containing the word “Allah”, an Arabic term for God.

Despite Ahmad Samsuri’s clarification, Dzulkefly said the issue was not so much about the three matters that PAS and Perkasa had based their alliance on, but about PAS’ “willingness to work with an organisation that advocates racial politics and ethnic-based ideology”.

“PAS is free to exercise its right to do whatever, but within the realm of conviction, PAS has shown it’s against racism. Them doing this is at best problematic, and at worst, very regrettable,” he said.

Progressive leaders in PAS broke away from the Islamist party and formed Amanah after losing to the conservatives in an internal party election earlier this year.