KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — The DAP can lose Penang in the next general election if PAS is no longer its Pakatan Rakyat (PR) ally, a top official from the Islamist party has said.
Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah told Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia yesterday that the DAP needs PAS to get Malay votes.
“If there is a split in the opposition pact, DAP will lose out,” Amar was quoted saying.
“It is unsure whether [DAP] can defend Penang if PAS is not in the opposition pact. Don’t think only PAS depends on others, other people also depend on PAS in the pact,” he added.
PAS, however, won just one state seat in Penang in the 13th general election to DAP’s 19. PKR had won 10 seats, leading to PR controlling 30 seats in the 40-seat legislative assembly.
The Penang chief minister is Lim Guan Eng from the DAP.
“We need each other. That is why I said, DAP and PKR must act wisely. If they make a wrong move, everybody lose,” Amar said.
On Tuesday, DAP pilloried PAS president Hadi for his party’s hudud push in Kelantan, saying it will no longer work with him even as it vowed to remain in the PR pact.
The DAP’s central executive committee accused Hadi of cooperating with Umno on the Islamic penal code, in violation of the pact’s common consensus and Common Policy Framework.
Aside from the current hudud controversy, DAP further accused Hadi of betraying PR during last year’s Selangor mentri besar crisis, when the PAS leader unilaterally nominated candidates other than PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
It also accused Hadi of failing to honour his own pledge made in February that PAS’s amendments to Kelantan’s Shariah Criminal Code Enactment II 1993 will be made available for discussions by the PR leadership.
