KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — PAS has denied reports claiming that the Islamist party is in talks to cooperate with Umno in Malaysia’s richest state, Selangor, in the 14th general elections (GE14).
According to PAS mouthpiece HarakahDaily, PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said that the claims were a “huge slander”.
“Party members do not refer to enemy sources. Refer to the party’s official sources. Do not get a headache,” he reportedly said during a party event in Kelantan yesterday.
Straits Times reported recently that PAS are in talks with Umno to cooperate with each other in a bid to win Selangor in GE14, saying that PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang is in regular contact with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over the matter.
Meanwhile PAS’ Selangor state exco Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad said that such reports were an attempt to “tarnish” the name of PAS and said that it could be part of an “international conspiracy” against the party.
In a statement published by Harakah, Iskandar said that the report was “mere speculation” and was not backed by any facts.
“It is impossible that PAS will work with Umno, which has so many problems and had been rejected by Selangor citizens twice (in 2008 and 2013),” he said.
He said that the people’s confidence in the state government is high, and that the parties that currently form the state government could receive the most votes.
“I am confident they will vote to keep the current state government,” he said.
PAS, DAP and PKR currently form the Selangor state government, even though PAS had severed relations with both PKR and DAP at the national level.
