PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has denied claims that he wanted to work with Umno to set up a unity government in Selangor during the menteri besar crisis last year.

“No, no, there is no such thing,” he said, when asked by reporters today.

This is despite PAS assemblyperson Husam Musa, who made the allegations, stating that he was willing to divorce his wife if the claims were untrue.

On this, Hadi challenged the former PAS vice president to do so.

“Let him do it. If what he says is true and we are lying, he’s free to utter the talak (religious oath),” he said in a press conference in Shah Alam today.

A person who utters the talak must divorce his wife if he breaks the oath, or in Husam's case, if he was lying.

He added that Husam “does not know anything” as he stays in Kelantan.

Husam last week said Hadi admitted he was for P AS and Umno forming the government in Selangor.

“Our president has admitted that he had offered two or three PKR assemblypersons to join PAS to form a state government in Selangor with Umno,” Husam had said.

'Outdated claims'

Meanwhile, Hadi stressed that a unity government with BN would not recur. He pointed out that PAS did join BN in the 1970s but it will not happen again. Therefore, Husam’s claims, he said, were outdated.

Instead, he said, back in 2008, forming a unity government did not mean that PAS was joining BN.

“It meant that all parties - BN, DAP, PAS and PKR ,were to be in the government, where there would be no opposition coalition.

“It didn’t mean we were joining BN. This plan did not happen as some parties were not agreeable to it," he said.

Hadi however said that cooperating with BN was a “normal thing”, especially on matters related to national interests.

“For example, if a foreign country wants to encroach on our country, then we will cooperate.

“We will cooperate on solving crime and issues related to refugees from Rohingya, Palestine and Bosnia. We will also cooperate on issues related to the country’s economy which affects the rakyat,” he said.

Meanwhile, asked whether Husam should be sacked from his post as PAS assemblyperson, Hadi said it was up to Kelantan PAS to come up with a decision, adding that they were awaiting a report on the matter from Kelantan PAS.

Apart from making the aforementioned allegations, Husam had also claimed that the Kelantan state government was responsible behind illegal logging in forest reserves.