KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — Even as PKR has yet to choose sides after the breakup of Pakatan Rakyat (PR), PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang instructed the Islamist party’s Selangor chapter today to back Mentri Besar Azmin Ali from PKR.
Hadi, who leads the conservative faction that has angered former ally DAP with the push to enforce hudud in Kelantan, insisted that PAS will continue to co-operate with PR, including in Selangor, to defend the people’s trust in the state government.
“In line with that, the central PAS leadership has ordered Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad, as Selangor PAS commissioner and who is also a Selangor state executive councillor, to instruct all the PAS state assemblymen to continue supporting Selangor Mentri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali, to keep serving the people and to retain the current Selangor state government,” said Hadi in an article on PAS mouthpiece Harakah Daily.
Despite DAP announcing the “death” of PR, PKR leaders have yet to declare who they will ally with, with the latter’s de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim saying — without offering much detail — yesterday that there will be a realignment of forces in the opposition.
The PAS progressives, who were defeated in the recent party election, have confirmed that they are planning to form a new political party centred on Islamic principles, but will have “nothing to do” with splinter group Persatuan Ummah Sejahtera (PasMa).
Multi-racial PKR has generally relied on PAS and DAP to bring in Malay and Chinese votes. Both PAS and the DAP have 15 seats each, while PKR has 13 seats in the 56-seat Selangor legislative assembly.
