Hadi says PAS against departures from Muafakat’s original aims

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 ― Muslim groups should join Perikatan Nasional (PN) to defend their community against challenges, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said while appearing to fire a salvo at Umno.

In a Facebook post, Hadi said his party was strong in its faith and would not back those with weak spiritual resolve.

“PAS is rejecting the split consensus and deviations from the original goals of Muafakat Nasional (MN). The goal is to defend the people of the country by involving all groups on the basis of an independent and sovereign constitution.

“PAS rejects politics that spends time picking a political side while making life difficult for the people, without looking at the natural disasters and epidemics that still rages on today.

“We also reject personal agendas that aim solely to save certain leaders and their groups and not to save the country and all the people,” said Hadi.

His remarks today appeared to be an indirect response to Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s reminder to PAS that they agreed not to enter new political partnerships without consulting one another.

Umno and PAS are allied through the MN charter the two signed in 2019 but the latter is now a member of the ruling PN coalition with Bersatu.

On Wednesday, PAS and Bersatu said they will continue cooperating for the 15th general election, after Umno decided that it will treat Bersatu as a rival then.

Today, Hadi sought to portray PAS as consistent in its position since its founding in 1951 and survived attempts to split it.

“Praise be to God, PAS has not experienced a crisis requiring the establishment of a new party as an alternative and does not need to be renewed up to today.

“PAS has also never experienced a slump from its membership standpoint, despite having faced several eye opening experiences throughout its political journey.

“Thus, we are not surprised by the advice given by political scientists and scholars who only hover in the lecture room and swing their feet back and forth. Those who simply speak in air-conditioned rooms in front of a glass screen following orders from those above them,” he said.

At its general assembly last week, some Umno leaders began demanding that PAS choose between their party and Bersatu.

After PAS and Bersatu announced that they were continuing, however, senior Umno leaders have dodged questions about the future of MN.