PAS upbeat on keeping Kelantan in event of split
PAS is confident it can hold on to Kelantan even if the party splits in two.
Its vice-president Idris Ahmad told Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview earlier this week that the east coast state has a special relationship with the party.
"There is strength in Kelantan. There are many members, and the religious sentiment is strong, which is why even Umno had to pretend to support the syariah criminal enactment.
PAS is confident it can hold on to Kelantan even if the party splits in two.
Its vice-president Idris Ahmad told Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview earlier this week that the east coast state has a special relationship with the party.
"There is strength in Kelantan. There are many members, and the religious sentiment is strong, which is why even Umno had to pretend to support the syariah criminal enactment.
"Even the Chinese in Kelantan are different; they all support the enactment," he said, citing Malaysiakini 's straw poll among non-Muslims in Kelantan in March which suggested that respondents have no qualms about hudud.
Idris said this when asked about PAS' chances of retaining Kelantan if the party's progressives, under the Harapan Baru (New Hope) banner leave to form a new party.
Asked further if a split would open up chances for Umno to make headway in the state, Idris remained optimistic.
"As a PAS member, I'm confident that Umno has no chance," he said.
Umno had governed Kelantan from 1978 up till 1990, before former PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat succeeded in leading a campaign to wrest back the state in the 1990 elections.
PAS has held on to Kelantan ever since.
'No need for new party’
Meanwhile, Idris refused to comment on plans by Harapan Baru to form a new party, as it has yet to be executed and he did not want to hurt his friends' feelings.
However he did have some advice for the progressives.
"No matter what, we fight together with PAS. [...] remember the reason you joined PAS and be confident with that decision. There is no need to form a new party," he said.
The Harapan Baru movement is led by PAS’ progressive leaders who were purged from the party's central leadership last month.
They claim that under president Abdul Hadi Awang, PAS had become more parochial and insular.
This they said, necessitates the need for a new Islamist party that is more inclusive to replace PAS in the opposition coalition.
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