VIDEO l 1:01 mins

MUKTAMAR PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has pledged that the Islamist party will be an active partner in the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat.

NONE He said, “Remember, we are not mere passengers in the coalition.

“Our partners are also not passengers but all parties in Pakatan must move together in strengthening its role and political understanding to a better level.”

“This is for us to take on the heavy responsibility on us ahead,” he said.

Abdul Hadi, who retained the PAS presidency uncontested, said this when addressing the 59th party muktamar in Shah Alam today.

Also present were PAS spiritual adviser Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and party secretary-general Mustafa Ali.

Pakatan Rakyat partners consisting of PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and DAP vice-chairperson Tan Kok Wai were also in attendance.

PAS has been dogged with pressures from within its conservative wing, especially in its Dewan Ulama, to review its partnership in Pakatan.

Penang PAS has recently threatened to quit the opposition coalition in the state following claims that they had been sidelined by their DAP and PKR partners.

Abdul Hadi said PAS and Pakatan had gone through the 13th general election on an uneven playing field in facing the mainstream media.

Despite this deficiency, he said the opposition coalition has managed to get close to 50 percent of the popular votes, and retain Kelantan, Selangor and Penang.

“The loss in Kedah should serve as a lesson but we should not be disheartened and continue on with the struggle,” he added.

The PAS president, in delivering his speech with the theme ‘ Rahmat untuk semua ’ (Blessings to All), also trained his sights on the ruling Umno/BN.

He said the people should be given every opportunity to enhance   their knowledge and Umno/BN should not continue trying to make the people stupid by giving them materials mimicking the pharaohs of Egypt.

Abdul Hadi also pointed out the challenge of facing and understanding the psycho-politics of the Malay community who think that Umno is the government and the government is Umno.

“Such narrow thinking has created fear among civil servants and their families. This resulted in the government to think that government assets are Umno assets. What is more severe is they think that to challenge Umno/BN is an offence as if one was being a traitor to the government.

“Hence, we have to plan comprehensively in a systematic way and to intensify the propagation to change the psycho-political thinking of the Malays,” he said.

‘Aliens dictating our education’

The PAS president also lamented the deteriorating education system, where he claimed “makhluk asing” (aliens) were being used in dictating our education system.

Probably referring to the hiring of foreign consultants by the government, Abdul Hadi said that it was bound to lead to failure.

“Our children would only become a test experiment for them... The education landscape needs a change in structure. Hence, educational institutions especially institutions of higher learning should be given more autonomy in various aspects to improve our universities further, and not have them become political tools hidden within their academic robes,” he said.

He noted that the education had developed for more than 50 years, but at present the education policy formulated by Umno/BN is only driven to worldly gain but lacks in spiritual gain and hence demanded that emphasis be given to religious schools nationwide.

azlan Abdul Hadi also touched on the wastage by the government as highlighted in the Auditor-General’s Report 2012 and this again show the weakness of the BN government.

The PAS president also demanded that the government withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) talks and urged the people to pressure the government to do so as the negotiations were being done secretly.

“It is unwise for the country to support the agreement which would bring a negative impact to the economy and the well-being of the people. We should be fighting for an equal footing in business and not trade off the sovereignty of the nation,” he said.

Abdul Hadi described the TPPA negotiations as a betrayal of the country and it would be better to continue with international trade on the principle of a level playing field that would bring benefits towards strengthening the economy.

He also said PAS is consistent in rejecting the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which he described would weaken the economy in the near future and weaken the purchasing power of the people.