KLANG, Aug 19 — A total of 413 PAS office bearers across Selangor announced today their resignation from party positions in a bid to ease their leap into a new Islamist party expected end of the month.
The new political party is spearheaded by PAS splinter group Harapan Baru (HB).
Those who resigned today comprised 183 office bearers from the Kota Raja parliamentary constituency, 227 members with positions from the Kapar federal constituency and three committee members from Klang, all of whom remain ordinary PAS members but no longer hold any positions in their respective constituencies.
"Now we are still PAS members, just we don't have any position. This is to help the transition for committee members who want to leave and committee members who want to stay," HB Selangor coordinator Izham Hashim told a press conference at the Kota Raja constituency office here.
He added that more Selangor office bearer may leave in the coming days, especially from Shah Alam and Kelana Jaya.
Among the top leaders who quit as office bearers was Kota Raja MP Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud, from her post as Kota Raja vice-chairman.
The Kota Raja MP also said the office bearers’ resignations did not mean that the divisions or branches would be dissolved, adding that that decision was up to the PAS central leadership.
PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man acknowledged the resignations, but said in a statement: “PAS central would like to reiterate that there will be no branches that will be dissolved even though leaders and some of its members have left”.
