PAS central committee member Hanipa Maidin today postulated the party's “unwarranted fear” of local elections was due to Umno's influence.

He said this was because Umno had made PAS’s top leadership grow ever fearful of a lack of support from the Malay community if there were local elections.

“Umno has made it seem as though the Chinese will engulf all the top leadership positions if local elections were held.