Permatang Pauh PAS won’t boycott PKR campaign, claims Azmin

PERMATANG PAUH, April 25 — The PAS division in Permatang Pauh will help PKR campaign for the May 7 by-election despite previous threats to withhold support, Azmin Ali said last night

Amidst reports that the division is refusing to help its Pakatan Rakyat ally during the campaign period, PKR deputy president Azmin said his party and PAS’s leaders at state and divisional levels met last night to “clear things up”.

“We had about an hour’s meeting to seek clarification from them on their supposed boycott and they too seek clarification from us on their hudud Bill,” he told reporters after announcing the PKR candidate at Seberang Perai Arena here today.

He said the PAS division commissioner Omar Hassan was present at the meeting and confirmed that they will adhere to the Islamist party’s central committee’s decision to support PKR in the by-election.

“He told us there was no boycott and that they have already started making preparations to start campaigning for PR,” he said.

In recent days, Omar was reported as demanding an apology from PKR for refusing to support PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang’s private member’s Bill to remove legal barriers to enforcing hudud in Kelantan, under threat of a boycott during the Permatang Pauh campaign.

Azmin said Omar had clarified that they did not demand an apology from PKR, but merely wanted the party to explain their stand on the Bills to them.

“So, we explained to them and they explained to us, it was a good meeting and it was chaired by Penang PAS Commissioner Mohamed Sabu,” he said.

Azmin last night also disputed a report by The Sun saying that PKR had apologised to PAS and retracted its rejection of the hudud Bills.

“They did not demand for an apology, so there is no question of apologising,” he said, stressing that PKR’s stand on hudud remained the same.

The meeting was held between local PAS leaders with Azmin and PKR president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail a few hours before he announced the latter as the candidate.

Azmin added that PAS’s support for PKR in its campaign will be apparent tomorrow as the party’s top leaders will be present for the nomination tomorrow morning.

Permatang Pauh PAS division committee member Jamsari Samad, when contacted, confirmed that they accepted the clarification given by PKR and that they will now support PKR’s campaign.