PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang today said his willingness to contest in Umno's stronghold of Pekan if ordered by the party to do so was to show that he was not a dictator.

"This statement is a message to all party members that number one - I am not a dictator in the party.

"We cannot make decisions on our own, we accept candidates then we discuss and then abide by the party's decision," he told a press conference after chairing the PAS central committee meeting at the PAS headquarters this afternoon.

Abdul Hadi had previously said that he was willing to contest in any constituency including against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in Pekan.

NONE "If the party say cannot contest, then cannot. If contest, then contest.

"Whatever it is, even if it is in Pekan, then Pekan it is. If in Sabah and Sarawak, then in Sabah and Sarawak (it is)," said Abdul Hadi.

On a separate matter, Abdul Hadi declined to weigh in on the comments of Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah ( above ) on religious freedom .

"We have not gotten the whole picture, I cannot make a statement. I cannot depend on media reports as they are incomplete," he said.

Nurul Izzah had said that there was no compulsion in religion when responding to a question on whether Malays had religious freedom in a forum last Saturday.

NONE She came under fire after Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia front-paged the story yesterday and questioned whether she supported apostasy among Muslims.

However, PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu took a swipe at the Malay language daily, pointing out that it has lost a series of defamation suits.

"We have to check first, because it is coming from Utusan. Utusan always loses (lawsuits).

Najib doesn't think Hadi will contest in Pekan