Abdul Hadi: PAS not shaken over Pakatan Harapan deal

(The Star) – PAS is unperturbed over the signing of a pact by Pakatan Harapan, and the move is not a threat to the Islamist party, said Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

“PAS is the most experienced party in Malaysia and has only grown stronger since it has been in existence during pre-independence days.

“But Pakatan isn’t new and this goes to ‘all sorts’ of Pakatan over the last 60 years.

“Some have collapsed and died off, some have collapsed and never got up, unlike us. We have grown stronger by the day,” the PAS president told the press after launching the Selangor election machinery here, Sunday.

Hadi also said PAS was not intimidated by its splinter party Parti Amanah Negara, despite possibilities that the Islamist party may go head to head against it and “traditional” enemy Barisan Nasional, in a three-corner fight next election.

“We have faced far larger political parties in the past including parties, which have had the support of the Federal Government, like that of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Front (Berjasa) and the Muslim People’s Party of Malaysia (Hamim),” he said.

PAS was a component member of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition since 2008, which has now defunct following a fallout with DAP last year over the implementation of hudud.

Some of its leaders have left PAS and set up Amanah after being accused of being friendly with DAP, and were eventually ousted from the Islamist party during its internal election last June.

This has resulted in the birth of the new Pakatan, dubbed Pakatan Harapan, comprising PKR, DAP and Amanah, leaving PAS out of the picture.

PAS had earlier made it clear that it would not join Pakatan, but would maintain its political cooperation with PKR.

On Saturday, the new Pakatan had tabled an agreement, which among others included a “collective decision”, and how the coalition should work as one unit while respecting the individual identity of each party.