Selangor state exco Hasan Ali, who recently expressed his willingness to be appointed by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to unite the Malays and Muslims, was shown the boot by his party vice-president today.

"It's up to him," PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar said when asked about speculation that Hasan would quit PAS.

NONE The party has never stopped any of its leaders from leaving PAS and joining Umno, as it is their democratic right, Mahfuz said when contacted today.

However, he could not verify the speculation about Hasan leaving PAS.

The Pokok Sena MP stressed that PAS was able to handle the issue from its past experiences, if that (Hasan resigning to join Umno) really happened.

"PAS has long experience in leaders leaving the party... even a party president had left the party before, but PAS continues its course as usual," Mahfuz said, referring to the exit of PAS' fourth president Mohd Asri Muda in 1982, following a leadership crisis.

He said the Islamic party struggled as an organisation and never depended on any individual.

Hasan, who was once Selangor PAS commissioner, has been linked with a faction within PAS that supports the proposal of forming an Umno-PAS unity government.

Last Monday, he said that he was prepared to accept an invitation from Najib to discuss the issue of uniting Malays and Muslims, including PAS and Umno.