KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 ― PAS’s clergy class warned its members today not to be enticed by “satanic” invitations from the party’s ousted progressives to join their budding Gerakan Harapan Baru (GHB), the precursor to a new splinter Islamist party.
According to its ulama wing, PAS is more deserving to prosper as it is based on the struggle for Islamic power and politics, compared to the new party which will solely be fuelled by its members’ “resentment”.
“PAS members need not be deceived by the whispers from the shaitans (devils) that invited [them] to exit the Islamic political struggle of PAS… by pledging various false wins,” the wing’s information chief Datuk Dr Khairuddin Aman Razali said in a statement.
In his warning, Khairuddin also accused GHB leaders of rejecting efforts to implement Islamic laws.
The Kuala Nerus MP also took issue with GHB leaders for using their position in the party and party premises to allegedly split the unity in PAS.
“PAS Ulama Wing urges PAS members to continue steadfast until victory with the PAS vessel that has been proven to be strict with Islamic policies and principles, in fighting against the vices of ruling politicians, and exalting an Islamic rule that is fair and benevolent,” Khairuddin added.
Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia also warned today that the upcoming party will only serve to divide the Malay community politically and will not do any good for the development of the ethnic community.
On Monday, PAS’s defeated professional faction launched the new movement which they plan to later register as a political party, and will go on a nationwide tour from now until August to convey to the public its goals.
Its chairman Mohamad Sabu, or better known as Mat Sabu, said while the movement was supportive of hudud, the Islamic penal law that was the cause of a breakdown in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat pact, it will pursue this goal democratically.
Other personalities in the movement include PAS members such as former Kuala Selangor MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad and others who were defeated in the Islamist party’s polls recently.
The new movement is a further step towards the formation of a substitute party to PAS in a new federal opposition pact.
Selangor PAS has sinced sacked all its members who are involved with the movement, despite the federal PAS saying that no action will be taken as long as there are no complaints lodged against them.
