PAS' refusal to work with splinter party Amanah stems, among others, from the latter's alleged attempts while they were PAS members, to reduce the role of the clerics in the Islamist party, according to a report.

Sinar Harian today reported PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang claiming this had transpired in the 2015 muktamar that saw the party's progressive and pro-Pakatan Rakyat members completely obliterated from the top leadership.

Hadi claimed they had submitted a motion to amend the party constitution to reduce the role of the all-powerful syura council, dominated by the party's conservatives.

He added those bringing the motion hoped the move would help improve relations with then Pakatan partners, especially DAP.

The grassroots rejected the motion, said Hadi according to the Malay daily.

“Because of this, we reject cooperation with Amanah. This is the first time I am exposing this.

“They tried to change the party constitution, when the syura council is the highest body that makes the final decisions of the party,” he was reported as saying.

“How can you reduce the power given to the syura council? It is the highest law in PAS' constitution, which we can reference to the Quran, the hadith as well as the ulama community.

“(The motion) clearly went against the fundamentals of our constitution,” he said.

However, Hadi said those who had brought the motion were not punished as the party was “democratic” and the decisions were made by democratic means at the muktamar.

While he did not mention the name of the member who had proposed the motion, he expressed gratitude the individual is no longer in PAS.

Going further, Hadi accused the move of being an attempt to shape PAS to be like a Turkish party, likely referring to the Erdogans, which he said rejected the role of Islam in the country's constitution.

“In their constitution, they do not allow Islamic parties, they cannot even mention it in politics.

“We are not like that,” he was reported as saying.

In the run-up to the 14th general election, Hadi has been pushing for Islam to be at the forefront of the country's governance, reportedly to the point of calling for cabinet to be exclusively Muslim.

Meanwhile, Amanah's Sepang MP Hanipa Maidin disputed Hadi's claim and sarcastically referred to PAS as the "sacred party".

"I suggest if the sacred party president believes his claim to be true and that he has evidence, he should name the Amanah leader he is accusing. It will be easier for us to sue him.

"Alternatively, he can debate with us. You can choose the place and moderator, I will follow," he said.

Hanipa said it made no sense to amend PAS' constitution to allow for political cooperation with DAP as the party has had cooperation with many other parties before this.