About 1,000 members of the opposition are expected to leave their respective parties and pledge their support for BN by next month under a programme, ‘Selamat Tinggal Pembangkang’, organised by the Besut Umno division.

idris jusoh pc 250308 02 Besut Umno leader Idris Jusoh ( right ) said he came to that number in view of more PAS members losing confidence in their party, especially for cooperating with DAP, which had always rejected an Islamic state.

"Early this month, nearly 400 PAS members came to us and majority want to join Umno after realising that PAS had deviated from its original struggle of championing Islam, including in the issue on the use of the word Allah.

"For the sake of wanting to achieve its ambition of conquering Putrajaya, PAS has made halal (permissible in Islam) what the party says were prohibited in Islam before," he told reporters in Shah Alam today.

He said they included women's participation in Quran recital competition as their voice was considered " aurat ", but now the party had women speaking on its political stage.

- Bernama