KUANTAN: PAS will not demand to lead the Umno-PAS political alliance unless there is pressure from its grassroots, according to party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.
“Islamic leadership need not necessarily be from Umno or PAS,” he told reporters after delivering his presidential speech at the 65th PAS Muktamar (general assembly) at the Sukpa Indoor Stadium, here today.
He said this when asked on who should lead the Umno-PAS alliance.
Responding to one of the delegate’s calls for PAS to be cautious on taawun (political cooperation) with Umno yesterday, Abdul Hadi said the Islamic party is aware of the phobia among members of both parties against each other based on previous political history.
“We have to understand, that in PAS, there are members with Umno phobia, while in Umno, there is PAS phobia due to tensions in the past, and that can be resolved,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Abdul Hadi said PAS would leave it to the Syura Council and at the party’s central committee to decide on seat allocations and election candidates selection, after taking into consideration fiqh siasah (political understanding) and current political strategy.
Meanwhile, Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who is discharging the duties of president, when met at the event, said the cooperation between Umno and PAS had not reached the stage of discussion on seat allocations for the 15th General Election.
As for the party polls for vice president, Terengganu Mentri Besar Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar filled the third vacancy after incumbent Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad declined re-nomination.
Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Kelantan Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah and Idris Ahmad were the other incumbents.
All the other top posts were uncontested and the incumbents returned namely Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang (president); Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (deputy president); Datuk Dr Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh (Dewan Ulama head) , Nuridah Mohd Salleh (Women’s wing head) and Khairil Nizam Khiruddin (Youth wing head). - Bernama
