The Malaysian Insight

IT is ‘wajib’, or compulsory, to dethrone the current Pakatan Harapan government, a top PAS cleric told members of the Islamist party as he defended its upcoming alliance with former arch-enemy Umno.

Nik Zawawi Nik Salleh, who heads PAS’ Dewan Ulama, said that the higher goal of defeating the Pakatan Harapan ruling coalition was why PAS has to ally itself with Umno despite their decades of enmity.

Nik Zawawi made this call as ordinary PAS members continued to express reservations of working with a party they say has in the past betrayed them.

“The political strategy in Malaysia is that no party can gain power alone. It must work with other parties,” he said in his winding up speech at the end of the party’s 65th muktamar (annual congress) today.

“It is wajib (compulsory) for us to bring down this government and we have to move forward instead of looking behind,” he said. 

The muktamar yesterday adopted a resolution tabled by the Dewan Ulama for PAS to forge a formal alliance with Umno, or what it terms as tahaluf siyasi. This was the form of close cooperation PAS had with DAP and PKR in the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat.

Nik Zawawi, who once led a public prayer for Pakatan’s life span to be shortened, said PAS cannot forever be in the opposition.

“We want to be in the federal government and reach Putrajaya. We don’t deny that in a party we take feedback from the grassroots to the leadership.

“But in terms of tahaluf siyasi, it has to go from top down,” he said, referring to how ordinary members must follow the party leadership’s decision. – June 23, 2019.