New PAS veep says party dissidents won’t derail partnership with Umno

KUANTAN, June 22 — Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar today admitted to dissenting voices within PAS who are opposed forging a political partnership with Umno, especially those from Terengganu and the northern states.

However, the newly-appointed PAS vice-president played down the views of dissenters, saying their disagreement will not prove an obstacle for the Islamist party leaders to cement ties with the Malay nationalist party.

“Both PAS and Umno have many members, all with different views from one another. Even our delegates here are about 1,200 people... to expect everyone to have a single similar view in impossible.

“I think such voices will add to the comprehension and composition on how our leaders will make their decision. It is not an obstacle to the plans that were formulated by PAS or Umno leaders in the cooperation,” he told reporters at the 65th PAS annual congress here.

Samsuri also played down concerns from PAS delegates that their party must not play second fiddle to Umno in their partnership, saying the leadership is focused on the next general election that must be called by 2023.

He sidestepped when pressed to identify which party took on the “mother” and “father” roles in the PAS-Umno pact, saying PAS prefer to strengthen their strategic partnership instead.

“We are not like Pakatan Harapan… even in Pakatan, we see each one of them trying to be the mum and dad,” he said of the ruling federal coalition.