Why is PAS' official mouthpiece Harakah Daily in the red if the Islamist party's members are willing to fork out money to get the party through the 14th general election (GE14), asked Mahfuz Omar today.

In a statement, the Amanah vice-president questioned how would PAS members and supporters contribute RM35 each, if they are not even willing to pay RM2 to keep the publication afloat.

He was responding to PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan's statement yesterday that the party was confident it could afford to contest in 160 seats in GE14, thanks to contributions from its one million members.

If one of them gave RM35, the party would have RM35 million to use for the elections, Takiyuddin had said. This was in response to Mahfuz who had questioned the source of funding for the contest, which he estimated to be at least RM34.4 million.

Mahfuz, who is formerly from PAS, further said in today's statement that if the party's members and supporters were that generous, Harakah Daily's staff members would not have to be retrenched, transferred out and made to go through a restructuring, due to a lack of funding.

"What are the chances of PAS members boycotting Harakah, but becoming generous enough to donate to the party for the election? With one million members, why is only 30 thousand copies of the paper printed for publication?

"PAS' building in Jalan Raja Laut is also neglected without maintenance, it looks as dull as the party," he said.

Mahfuz then recalled that when he was in PAS, the party carried out various campaigns to collect donations from party members, to fund the party's land, building, special projects, and keep Harakah Daily afloat, but still fell short.

"Suddenly, PAS announced that it will contest in 160 seats with funds it claims coming from its members' pockets. His explanation does not answer anything, it raises more questions.

"Making the party's current account public will help explain the source of funds for the election," he said.