BATU PAHAT: The Pas 60th muktamar (annual general assembly) opens here today with the party’s internal crisis and strained relations with its Pakatan allies casting a gloom over the gathering.
The strained relations between Pas and its Pakatan allies was evident from the start with the absence of top leaders of PKR and DAP.
Pas President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang in his key note address highlighted the problems early in his speech by calling on members not to support elements whom he accused of sacrificing the party’s Islamic ideals for political expediency.
“We have to remain firm in our struggles by upholding Islamic ideals instead of being in a hurry to gain power without considering whether the means to achieve it was the right way to do it,” he said.
In an apparent reference to the ongoing internal conflict within the party following the Selangor leadership crisis, Hadi said Pas leaders and members should not be too eager to satisfy the demands of the party’s allies in the Pakatan coalition.
“We must not discard our Islamic principles for political expediency because if we do that, we will fail to achieve what we are struggling for all these while,” he said.
He added that throughout Pas history, many leaders and members of the party had fallen by the wayside because they failed to uphold the original party struggles to uphold Islam in this country.
Hadi is leading the ulama (religious leaders) faction of Pas who have been against the demands by PKR and Pas to install PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the new Selangor menteri besar (MB).
His faction was being opposed over the issue by the so-called progressive leaders of the party led by his deputy Mohamad Sabu.
The rival faction is known to be supportive of PKR de-facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also the husband of Dr Wan Azizah.
Hadi said Pas will stay with the Pakatan coalition only if it could do so without compromising its Islamic principles.
He said the party had never betrayed its allies in the past and have no plan to do so in following the current crisis despite the severe strain between member parties of the Pakatan opposition pact.
He asked for PKR and DAP to reciprocate Pas loyalty to the pact by themselves not betraying the cooperation.
“We must make sure that any decisions made (by the Pakatan leadership) are mutually agreed,” said Hadi in an obvious reference to past decisions such as that known as the Kajang Move where Pas was not consulted by its allies.
The Kajang Move which triggered the ongoing Selangor leadership crisis was a maneuver by PKR to oust MB Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and replace him with Anwar.
The plan was however changed with Dr Wan Azizah taking over from Anwar at the resultant by-election in Kajang following her husband's sodomy conviction being upheld by the Court of Appeals in March.
Hadi nonetheless asserted that rumours of Pas joining Umno or Barisan Nasional were not true.
“These lies are spread by those who are merely trying to cause further rift in Pakatan,” said Hadi.