The Malaysian Insight

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said the party will support the Pakatan Harapan government depending on the situation, despite its aim of defeating the ruling coalition in the next general election.

“Our position is the same as the resolution in the muktamar. We can support the government without joining them. There can also be a mixed government. It will depend on the situation,” Hadi told reporters after PAS’ 65th muktamar (annual congress) today.

He was responding to contrasting views between the party’s Dewan ulama and its youth wing which were expressed in the muktamar.

The Dewan ulama, the party’s influential wing of Muslim clerics, had said that it was compulsory for Pakatan to be defeated and justified an upcoming alliance with Umno.

The statement was in contrast to the party’s youth wing’s, whose chief said they were willing to support the government led by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. 

The party’s muktamar, its highest decision-making body, has approved a resolution to forge a coalition with Umno to contest in GE15 against the Pakatan ruling coalition.

The party has formed working committees to hammer out the terms and conditions for the alliance which will be announced at a later date, said Hadi.

For now, the Marang MP said, both parties are going ahead with their temporary pact (ta’awun) while pursuing a more formal coalition (tahaluf siyasi).

“At this point it’s a ta’awun; tahaluf has conditions when we want to form a government. We are going in phases.

What is important is that we have an understanding first before we sign (any treaties),” he said.

He added that a majority of the party’s members will support its alliance with Umno despite misgivings about working with an entity that has betrayed it in the past.

Kelantan PAS members still blame Umno for undermining and bringing down the PAS-ruled state government in 1977 despite the fact that PAS was part of Barisan Nasional then.

“The (dissenting voices) are a remote minority in PAS. Those who have been in PAS for a long time can accept (the pact),” Hadi said. – June 23, 2019.