PAS ulama chief Mahfodz Mohamed believes that party president Abdul Hadi Awang must have given his blessings to his deputy Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man to issue the statement calling for a ceasefire between opposition parties.

Responding to queries on why Hadi did not issue the statement himself, Mahfodz said the president cannot be expected to handle all matters.

“When he (Tuan Ibrahim) made the call, it must have been with the blessings of the president,” he told Malaysiakini.

Agreeing with the call, Mahfodz said opposition parties should not be fighting each other.

“If the mutual objective is to defeat BN, then opposition parties should focus on strengthening themselves even if they are not in a coalition.

“If each (opposition) party is strong and goes against BN, then any opposition party can win.

“But if each party does not have seats, not only are we not strong, we will also continue fighting. In the end, BN will be the one which gains as seen in the recent two by-elections,” he added.

In calling for the ceasefire, Tuan Ibrahim yesterday said opposition parties should instead train their guns on Umno-BN.

He said opposition parties must compromise without sacrificing their core ideals in order to focus on the “real enemy”.

The rift between DAP and PAS grew after the former made its stance clear that it was against PAS’ plan to implement hudud in Kelantan.

DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang then proclaimed the death of Pakatan Rakyat after PAS, at its muktamar (general assembly) last year, approved a motion to sever ties with DAP.

The Islamist party’s muktamar also saw the party’s “progressives” obliterated from the party’s leadership.

This led to a split in the party and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), consisting of mostly former PAS members, was launched three months later.

A new opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan, was formed in the same month consisting of PKR, DAP and Amanah.