Vacate seat if you quit PAS, says Hadi

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PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said that PAS MPs and state representatives who join other parties must vacate the seats they won in the previous general election.

This is because, he said, they have pledged their allegiance when they accepted the offer to contest as representatives of the people, Mingguan Malaysia reported today.

Hadi also said that it depends on the honour of these leaders to vacate their seats as promised.

"Following the party constitution, their membership is voided automatically if they join another party.

"It is up to them because they know about the pledge that they made. Actually, they should vacate their seats if they have joined another party," he said.

He was referring to the PAS leaders and members who are involved in the formation of a new Islamic party that is expected to be announced on Aug 31. The new party will reportedly be called Parti Amanah Rakyat.

'No reason to resign'

However, Gerakan Harapan Rakyat secretary Dzulkefly Ahmad rejected Hadi's reasoning, saying that the Federal Constitution does not force them to resign from their positions for the reasons stated.

"Conventionally, resigning from our positions is not common practice. The exception is the case of (former Selangor Menteri Besar) Khalid Ibrahim in both the positions he was holding," he said in a statement today.

For now, he said, the political system is unfair towards Adun or MPs who resign, as they will be barred from contesting in elections for five years.

"Maybe it is time to re-examine and re-consider this issue.

"Parliament must look into this seriously, and bi-partisanly make amendments and discuss this issue, in order to come up with the best parliamentary democracy practices in this country," Dzulkefly ( photo ) added.

It is difficult to ask someone to resign using only one's party as a reason, he said.

He pointed out that according to surveys, there are other factors that determine a candidate's win.

This includes the candidate's charisma, the support of the people and current issues.

"Hence, it is not just exclusively about the party, especially if the party is perceived to have deviated from their framework or policies that helped them win the elections in the first place," he explained.

'PAS still going strong'

Meanwhile, Hadi said PAS is going strong and continue to receive support from many people, including professionals.

He added that PAS has received 9,000 new membership applications but for now they can only process 6,000 of those applications.

PAS will rise to become a solid Islamic party as they have support from within and outside the country, he said.

"We have faced bigger challenges than this before, so we must always be steadfast and have confidence that Islam is our saviour and will solve our problems," he said.



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