KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang today said his party is willing to cooperate with anyone so long as Malaysia is led by Malays and Muslims who perfectly follow the tenets of Islam.
The Marang MP claimed the Islamist party’s aim since its founding in 1951 has been unchanged, amid shade from former ally Umno over PAS’ latest support of ex-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s “Malay Proclamation” move to unite the country’s largest demographic group.
“Currently, PAS seeks to strengthen the politics of Malay Islam and we are obliged to lead the way by providing support and cooperation to unite the Malays through Islam.
“The aim is to restore the power of the Malay Muslim leadership with the agenda of leading the unity of the people,” he said in his latest Facebook post titled “PAS Bekerjasama Mengikut Islam”.
Hadi and several other PAS leaders had signed Dr Mahathir’s “Malay Proclamation” touting the unity and protection of the community to “restore the political power of Malays” on May 4.
Leaders from Bersatu including its deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, another PAS ally from the Opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition had also similarly signed the 12-point document, but asserted that it only showed personal support and carried no political weight.
Yesterday, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi took a swipe at PAS, claiming its former Muafakat Nasional (MN) partner would abandon its PN partner eventually, just like it had done in the past.
Ahmad Zahid rejected PAS’ claim that Umno has put Malay unity on the backburner, saying his party — now a member of the “unity government” under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from Pakatan Harapan (PH) — is still pursuing that objective, adding that it must be compatible with the country’s diversity.
In his Facebook post today, Hadi acknowledged that PAS has teamed up with multiple partners over the years, including non-Muslim groups like DAP.
However, he said PAS will now not work with “liberal” parties like PKR and Umno so long as they are partnered with the DAP.
“DAP openly opposes an Islamic nation and urges the establishment of secularism in the Federal Constitution,” Hadi claimed.
DAP leaders have repeatedly said that the party abides by the country’s laws that recognises Islam as the religion of the federation, contrary to Hadi’s assertion.
Hadi also claimed that Umno has abandoned the foundation of its struggle to defend Islam, race and country for its own self-interests such as to gain positions of power and to grow its assets.
“PAS works with all parties and NGOs on different approaches and fields without rejecting the clear principles and concepts of Islam.
“In fact, PAS also accepts non-Muslims who do not reject Islamic principles and policies to join our supporters under our machinery, and work with all non-Muslim parties and NGOs that are not extreme despite their ideological differences with PAS,” said Hadi.
