KUALA LUMPUR: Recent actions and an inconsistent stand by the PAS leadership, has raised questions about the Islamist party’s political direction, according to Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar (pix).
Firstly, there was a claim that PAS would not support Umno in the Semenyih by-election and secondly its youth leader Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Aziz is said to have lied about his party receiving money from Umno.
Mahfuz was responding to a statement by Prime Minister and Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, that PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had told him that the party would not support Umno in the Semenyih by-election.
“Is that a lie?” he asked in a statement issued today.
Mahathir said on Saturday that he had met Hadi during the Al-Bukhary Foundation and they both “talked a lot about politics”. It was then that Hadi said PAS would not support Umno in Semenyih, he added.
The Semenyih by-election is scheduled for March 2, and four candidates are vying for the seat.
Mahfuz also noted that Nik Abduh had earlier claimed that Hadi had condoned his lie over the funds purportedly received from Umno.
Based on an audio recording, Nik Abduh had claimed that the party received funds from Umno and that Hadi had given his blessings for him to deny that it was his voice in the recording.
In Nik Abduh’s defence, PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan had insisted that the youth leader was not lying but was merely “employing a strategy to protect the party”.
PAS is being investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over allegations that it had received RM90 million from the controversial 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
