PAS Youth backs Hadi’s call to move away from Muafakat

PAS Youth has backed party president Abdul Hadi Awang’s call to move away from its Muafakat Nasional pact with Umno in favour of a grand coalition of Malay-Muslim parties.

Newly elected chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari issued a statement yesterday titled “Uniting the people should not be tied to a certain group” (Penyatuan ummah tidak harus terikat dengan kelompok tertentu).

Aside from agreeing with Hadi, he cautioned that any comments that were contrary to the president’s did not represent the party.

“Uniting the ummah should not be limited to a certain group only, it has to move in tandem.

“PAS Youth stands firm with the president’s statement, which has become the basis of the party’s struggle.

“We stress that any statement by anyone that is not in line with that statement (by Hadi) is not the party’s official stance and should not be linked to PAS,” Fadhli said.

Yesterday, Hadi said he “rejected” MN as it “only involved” PAS and Umno and was thus “incomplete”.

Instead, he favoured a coalition between PAS, Umno and its archrival splinter party Bersatu.

He also said PAS rejected ideologies that “denied the existence of diverse communities”, saying Bersatu-led Perikatan Nasional was more capable of addressing this diversity.

Malacca political aftermath

The recent Malacca election marked another low for Umno-PAS relations.

PAS chose to side with Bersatu and contested as part of PN.

It even clashed against BN-Umno in seven seats, losing in all of them.

Despite PN’s paltry two-seat gains and BN’s resounding two-thirds victory, Hadi has interestingly doubled down on his decision to pick Bersatu.

However, PAS working committee member Nik Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz proposed the contrary.

In an impassioned plea, he called for the party to return to its MN pact with Umno, calling it “the best political agreement” and a “covenant blessed by God”.

Meanwhile, Umno secretary-general and veteran leader Mustapha Yaakub has opined that it would be better for MN to be dissolved entirely.

“Both have made their decisions. Umno won’t be with Perikatan Nasional, while PAS has chosen PN and rejected MN,” he had said.

MN was formalised back in Sept 2019.

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