Newly-elected PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar is apparently in the dark over the absence of posters of party president Abdul Hadi Awang for the upcoming by-election in Manek Urai, Kelantan.

mahfuz omar pas ceramah in penanti 270509 At a press conference in the PAS Kuala Lumpur headquarters today, the former information chief said he has yet to receive any clear information regarding the development.

“But if there are any issues that could be related to this, we will resolve them to the best of our ability.”

Mahfuz handed over to newly-appointed information chief Idris Ahmad at the event.

He also brushed off suggestions as to whether spiritual adviser Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat has more “commercial value” than Abdul Hadi. The PAS election machinery in Manek Urai had reportedly intended to exploit Nik Aziz’s posters to attract more voters.

“I will get them to explain it to me about the matter... I don’t even know what they meant by 'commercial',” said Mahfuz.

Malaysiakini recently reported that PAS wants to 'localise' its campaign for next month’s Manek Urai by-election and therefore will not put up posters of Abdul Hadi, who hails from Terengganu.

Instead, it will only use posters of Nik Aziz, who is also Kelantan menteri besar.

There has been much speculation that the move is related to Nik Aziz and Hadi not seeing eye-to-eye over the contentious proposal to hold unity talks between PAS and arch-rival Umno.

'Forgiving does not mean forgetting'

On a separate matter, Mahfuz questioned Barisan Nasional’s sincerity in extending the olive branch to PAS, as this should have been made 50 years ago.

He said this in response to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who last week had said that PAS should be willing to forgive BN for what they had done to their political rivals. Almost four decades ago, PAS left the ruling coalition due to an internal conflict.

“If they are really sincere, they should have asked for forgiveness a long time ago because PAS has been sincere all this while,” said Mahfuz.

He also stressed that forgiving does not mean that the party will forget the conflicts between the two parties.

“It is like a married couple who are seeking a divorce where they will go through a set of procedures beforehand. Although they may forgive each other after their divorce, it does not mean they will live in the same house,” said Mahfuz.