KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said his party believed that components of the informal Perikatan Nasional coalitions will now work together to jointly contest the 15th general election.
In remarks indicating an apparent shift in the Islamist party’s stance on PN, Takiyuddin also claimed the cooperation that led to the formation of the current government in February equated to the formalisation of the coalition.
“PAS is confident the parties that form PN are ready to drive the efforts and machinery to finalise preparations on the common front — including finalising seat allocations — to face the 15th general election that has yet to be scheduled,” he said in a statement.
“PAS is also confident the cooperation and tolerance on all PN members now will strengthen the position of the PN government, whether at the federal or state level, until the end of the current term.”
Takiyuddin’s comments were the strongest in this direction after both PAS and Muafakat Nasional ally, Umno, appeared to play down the permanency of the PN coalition.
PAS vice-president Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah previously described the coalition as a temporary arrangement while Umno deputy president Datuk Mohamad Hasan openly said his party would have no issue contesting against nominal ally, Bersatu, in the general election.
PN came to power after Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned in February to trigger the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government.
However, the ruling coalition has yet to be formalised.
Its composition is also complicated as it includes several other coalitions such as Barisan Nasional, Muafakat Nasional, and Gabungan Parti Sarawak that variously have ties and alliances with one another that are independent of PN.
Up until last week, there had been strong rumours that a possible ouster of PN was being engineered through defections after Datuk Shahruddin Md Salleh resigned as the deputy works minister ostensibly to support Dr Mahathir.
PN appeared to have consolidated its position since then, however, with several lawmakers who were believed to be on the verge of switching sides coming out strongly for the Muhyiddin administration.
Some of the declarations coincided with the lawmakers’ appointments as the heads of statutory bodies and government-linked corporations.
