KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — PAS was forced to form a coalition outside of the ruling Barisan Nasional and the Opposition's Pakatan Harapan as neither upheld Islamic values, according to Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

In a live broadcast on Facebook today, the PAS president said the Islamist party had tried working with the BN government in the 1970s and discovered alleged cases of misconduct then that he said were inconsistent with PAS values.

“Back then, the ruling government had the financial means to properly manage the country but there were some weaknesses and ‘leakages’ which hindered PAS from staying true to our fights,” he said in the 19-minute video.

PAS briefly entered BN in the 70s and even contested the 1974 general election under the coalition's banner, before then-party president Datuk Asri Muda pulled the party out three years later.

On PH, Abdul Hadi said the pact comprised too many ideologically disparate parties, some of which he said were openly against Islam while others failed to do enough for the Islamic agenda.

PAS and DAP rowed openly prior to the death of Pakatan Rakyat, primarily over the Islamist party's push then for hudud law that later receded to simply enhancing Shariah sentencing limits.

Hadi also said his party could not band with PH simply because it was the Opposition.

“It (PH) is made up of political parties that clearly were against Islam, like DAP, and others who was not vocal enough about a religious fight.

“This forced PAS to form our own coalition,” he said.

While conceding that PAS was smaller and has fewer resources as a result of striking out alone, he insisted that party supporters and grassroots should not be discouraged heading into the general election.

“We have previously won Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah by fighting well within our means  — in terms of follower size and financial ability.

“Allah has proven he can give us the victory provided we are patient and faithful to Islam,” he said.

Hadi previously claimed that his party would contest as many as 130 federal seats.

Following the death of PR, PAS went on to form Gagasan Sejahtera, an independent political partnership that includes Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia, a minor political party.