PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has instructed its two candidates who planned to contest for the Taman Medan and Dengkil state seats in Selangor to make way for Keadilan to avoid a three-cornered fight.

To honour its working relationship with Keadilan - PAS' ally in Barisan Alternatif (BA), Abdul Hadi said an official letter was sent to PAS Selangor yesterday advising the two candidates to withdraw from the polls.

"We have made a pact to avoid three-cornered fights and we want to honour the agreement. We hope that the state leadership will make the necessary steps to make way for a one-to-one fight against Barisan Nasional," Abdul Hadi said after witnessing the launch of BA's common manifesto at Keadilan headquarters in Shah Alam this morning.

PAS' Ghazali Shaari was scheduled to contest for the Taman Medan seat against Keadilan's Wan Razali Wan Kadir, BN's Abdul Wahab Ibrahim and independent candidate Abdul Rahman Seeni Mohideen.

As for Dengkil , PAS' Haslin Hasan was supposed to run against Keadilan Mohamad Sahar Mat Din and BN's Mohd Sharif Jajang.

Both seats were won by Umno in the 1999 elections.

Disciplinary action

Meanwhile, PAS Selangor state liason secretary Norman Taha confirmed that the official letters had been relayed to the two.

"The party is firm on the stand and it is depicted in the letter. We informed the candidates that the must not go against the direction as the party is obliged to honour its pact with Keadilan," he said.

He did not dismiss the possibility of taking disciplinary action against two if they disobeyed.

Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who was also present at the launch was grateful and said that Keadilan "has done its part" in avoiding a three-cornered fight with DAP.

"Of course we are very disappointed that we are denied a one-to-one fight with the BN. We hope that DAP will soon withdraw from the relevant constituencies," she said referring to 19 seats in which both parties have fielded candidates.

"Although its deputy chairperson Karpal Singh has expressed willingness to discuss the matter, no progress has been made. But we have done our part and the next step depends totally on DAP."

She said although there is no no official pact on seat allocation between Keadilan and DAP but the two parties had a common understanding to deny victory to the BN, adding that the party must now re-assess the understanding.

Islamic state: Not BA's agenda

On other issues, Abdul Hadi was also questioned on the obvious absence of the establishment of an Islamic state from the BA manifesto to which the PAS president explained that the Islamic state issue is a PAS' agenda and not the BA's.

"PAS made plans to establish an Islamic state at the states where we rule, not at the federal level.

This is because we want to make these states as role-models to prove that an Islamic government is a fair and just government," he said.

He said PAS had no intention to bulldoze their wish for an Islamic state and assured that any implementation of an Islamic government will be through the current democratic process.

"We are not rushing for it (establishment of Islamic state). We will only do so when there is a consensus. We will postpone the implementation when there is an objection," he said.

He also denied that BA's plan to establish a constitution court will hamper PAS' bid to implement the Syariah criminal laws in Kelantan and Terengganu.

"We see there is a contradiction in the reading of the constitution. There are articles that Islam is the official religion and that we all free to practice our religion - both Muslims and the non-Muslims. At the same time we are denied to establish an Islamic state which is one of the demands of the religion," he said.

He said while PAS was willing to further discuss the issue with all parties including Umno, the latter had chosen to cut the matter short by challenging the laws enacted by the PAS-led governments in Kelantan and Terengganu in court.

Personal attacks

Abdul Hadi also expressed his disappointment with the current election laws which bars the people from launching personal attacks against election candidates stating the people deserve leaders of good morale background.

"Even in the West while their rate of morality is very low, they still seek a high-morale leaders. So any information which can prove that a candidate is immoral should be allowed so that we have clean leaders," he said.

He alleged that the law is not meant to curb slander but to "protect" BN leaders from being exposed of wrongdoings and the BA intends to rectify the issue if it rules the country.

He denied that exposing one's personal problems is unIslamic stating that the religion allows its believers to expose wrongdoings of leaders.

"Even when choosing a witness, one is allowed to show proof of wrongdoing what more in the case when we are choosing a leader who will be entrusted with so many powers and responsibilities," he said.