‘Pas will work with party that puts Islam first’
BUTTERWORTH: It is not impossible for Pas to have a political relationship with Umno or any other political parties as long as they adhere to the condition that a Muslim must be the leader.
Pas spiritual leader Hashim Jasin said the party’s stand on the matter was clear.
Any party who wants to cooperate with the Islamic party must agree that Islam must lead, he said.
“They must also follow the Islamic teachings (syariat Islam). We want to make Islam the priority,” he said after officiating the Pas election machinery in Kota Aur, Penaga, here yesterday.
He was commenting on the termination of the tahalluf siyasi (political cooperation) between Pas and PKR.
Last Thursday, Pas officially ended its 18 years of cooperation with PKR, with the Syura Council deciding that the move was necessary in order to defend the party’s Islamic agenda.
The Syura Council accused PKR of breaching many terms of its conditional cooperation with Pas, thus failing to support it in its Islamic agenda, and working against it in two by-elections last year.
Hashim added that Pas welcomed any party which wished to cooperate with the party as long as they agreed to its conditions.
Asked on the fate of the party’s three Selangor state executive council (exco) members, Hashim said the Pas Central Committee would hold a meeting this Thursday to decide on their fate.
He said the party’s central working committee had its own political bureau, which would discuss the matter.
“What puzzles us is that Datuk Seri Azmin Ali as the Selangor menteri besar has the power to dismiss them or reshuffle his state exco but has not done so but had instead asked them to resign,” he said.
He said this indicated that PKR was still hoping for a political relationship with Pas.
In Selangor Pas commissioner Sallehin Mukhyi said the reason Pas executive council (exco) members did not resign from the state government was to ensure that its former ally, DAP, would not do “anything evil”.
He said this was due to DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng’s previous remark that his party must remain in the state government to ensure that Pas did not do evil.
Lim had said this when Pas and DAP left the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat due to disputes in 2015. “Therefore, Pas needs to remain in the government and the exco members must continue their service so that Pas can do good work and DAP does not do evil,” he said.