PAS vice-president Husam Musa has accused an Umno faction, linked to its deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin, of meddling in PAS affairs in order to wrest control of Selangor.

 

He claimed that Selangor is a “low-hanging fruit” for this group in its effort to split PAS away from Pakatan Rakyat, after which it would be easier for Umno to approach and cooperate with PAS.

The ultimate goal of this faction is to control two-thirds of Parliament, Husam added, and then approve new parliamentary seats on the pretext of strengthening Malay power.

 

“I know that are concerted efforts from some within Umno to instil their agenda into PAS, in particular the deputy prime minister’s team.

 

“This team feels that by controlling some institutions within PAS, PAS would move as they wish,” he said in a statement today.

 

'Ploy won't work

However, Husam argued that the ploy would not work. Among other reasons, he said, is because PAS works differently from Umno.

 

In PAS, he said, the muktamar or general assembly is supreme and is above even the Syura Council. It would be difficult for Umno to influence enough PAS divisions to control the muktamar.

 

In addition, he said, a PAS-Umno coalition in Selangor - with or without independent assemblypersons - was untenable and would collapse immediately because of a lack of support in the state assembly and from the public, especially if the 15 PAS assemblypersons are given the choice of whether or not to support such a coalition.

 

Although Umno would gain more Malay support through the coalition, Husam said, it would alienate other voters and divide Malaysia, because non-Malay voters would be left to support Pakatan Rakyat without PAS.

 

It would also confine Islam to “narrow Malay politics” for decades, which is unfortunate for PAS because Islam is universal and protects the interests of all races, he said.

 

“Now, all parties in Pakatan Rakyat need to sit together and manage the issue in Selangor. Forget Umno,” Husam asserted.

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