PAS HAS STRAYED, SAYS DAP

It is more interested in the afterlife than winning elections, claims lawmaker

ADAP lawmaker says it is “pointless” for Pas to remain as a political party if it was more interested in the afterlife than winning the general election.

DAP Penang vice-chairman Zairil Khir Johari also accused Pas of deviating from its true struggle, claiming that the Islamic party was acting as an adviser to Umno.

“When Pas speaks about obtaining the blessings of God, better reckoning in the afterlife and the rejection of winning the general election, why doesn’t it just leave the struggle of winning elections and join a tabligh or Sufi congregation?

“A political party must have the goal of bringing impact on national policies,” he said in a blog post on Thursday.

Zairil, who is also Bukit Bendera member of parliament, said while he did not reject the need for personal change and societal development, a political party’s path was to change the country’s policies to become a just and caring system.

“If Pas no longer has this vision, what is the use of calling itself a political party?”

He also said Pas’s struggles were different when it was led by previous leaders, particularly the late former president Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Citing a recent statement by Pas spiritual leader Hashim Jasin, who said winning elections was not Pas’s priority, Zairil said this was proof that the Islamic party had strayed from the time it was with Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Alternatif.

Hashim’s remarks, he added, had caused confusion.

“How can a party fight for its ideologies and translate them into government policies if it does not win the elections first?

“At the same time, it would also not mirror the reality of Pas’s history and struggles all this while.

“If Pas finds DAP with its secular and democratic principles so repulsive, how then can Pas cooperate with DAP, not just for a while, but for 10 years under two different coalitions?

“How did (Pas president) Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and Nik Abdul Aziz defend and praise DAP all this while?”

Pas had a fallout with DAP in 2015 before quitting the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat last year.

A Pas breakaway party, Parti Amanah Negara, was later formed.