PAS will remain steadfast in upholding Islam in Malaysia despite the many challenges and the decision of some of its leaders to quit and follow a different path with other opposition parties.

Its president, Abdul Hadi Awang, said PAS would never bow to pressure or the responsibilities abandoned by those leaders as it was confident that the support form the public was enough to help PAS to succeed.

“Despite the many party hoppers, we (PAS) will not budge because we know that the people are with us. Those who had left, let them be, it will not affect us.

“PAS is getting bigger and bigger, we have more supporters today. It does not matter if we win or lose in the general election.

“What’s important is that the party remains relevant,” Hadi said at the closing of Fastaqim 2.0 at the Tok Jembal Beach in Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, last night, which was attended by more than 200,000 supporters of the party.

Also present were PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin, information chief Nasrudin Hasan, former Selangor menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim and Ikatan president Kadir Sheikh Fadzir.

In his speech, Hadi also said that PAS was not a party that tried to create success stories based merely on elections because PAS’ struggle was based on principles set by the party.

“PAS will not budge and will remain steadfast in upholding Islam despite being deluged with various challenges, including the demand for PAS not to use the word Islam in its name.

“We will not bow to that pressure,” he said.

He said PAS would also not try to win an election through violence as it still believed in democracy.

“We believe that a victory must be achieved peacefully through a democratic process, even though we are living in a multi-racial society with various kinds of opinions. This is because if we don’t opt for democracy, there will be disharmony among the people and this will be detrimental to the country,” Hadi added.

- Bernama