PUTRAJAYA: PAS-led Gagasan Sejahtera (Gagasan) will not field candidates for seats that its allies are interested to contest in, in the 14th General Election (GE14).
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, who is also Gagasan chairman, said there would be no seat tussle between Gagasan and its allies deemed as PAS-friendly.
The allies include Parti Cinta Malaysia and Parti Generasi Baru that will use their own logos.
He also said the consensus to use PAS logo as the common logo for political parties in Gagasan would not cause any rift, and the decision was absolute.
Asides from PAS, Gagasan also comprises Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia (Ikatan) and Pan Malaysia Islamic Front (Berjasa).
“No claws are out, unlike those in the other camp (the opposition) with different claws here and there,” said Hadi, taking a jibe at Pakatan Harapan for using different logos in Sabah and Sarawak.
Hadi said this after the launch of Gagasan’s Malaysia Sejahtera Document that was tabled by PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.
Also present were Ikatan president Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir and former Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
On the Langkawi parliamentary seat, Hadi confirmed PAS would field a candidate, but declined to name the person until “the time is right.”
He said Gagasan and its allies would contest in 160 parliamentary seats, aiming to win at least a simple majority of 112 seats.
Asked if the former Selangor menteri besar would be fielded as a candidate, Hadi replied no. Instead Khalid would oversee efforts to develop the country’s technocrates, he added.
On seats allocation, Abdul Kadir said there was no issue of who contesting where in Gagasan.
Ikatan had been offered seats, but the party had to decline some of them as it was not ready to take on all of the seats, he added.
Ealier, Tuan Ibrahim said the Malaysia Sejahtera document listed out the second part of Gagasan’s manifesto with 84 promises for 12 target groups including women, the disabled, Felda settlers, civil servants, the elderly and retirees, and entrepreneurs.
Among the promises are restructuring the tax system to be syariah compliant for workers in the public and private sectors, as well as setting up a special department for the disabled.
It also offers three-month maternity leave facility without setting the limit on the number of children, and a special leave to look after parents with chronic illnesses for civil servants.
For the youths, Gagasan offers to scrap the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) debts and form an endowment education facility.
Last month, Gagasan unveiled a nine-point manifesto, comprising among others four points, which are to boost the people’s disposable income; generate new job opportunities; fortify the people to overcome the effects of inflation and rising cost of living; and to reduce the economic gap between urban and rural areas.
The other points are improving the quality of education to produce excellent well-rounded individuals; harmonisation of the legal system and the country’s management (tadbir urus) in line with Syariah principles; re-strengthen the concept of federalism by returning certain rights to the states; to strengthen the voice of the people in line with Syura and democratic principles; and to improve the effectiveness of social support system for the less fortunate.
It was reported that the Gagasan manifesto was based on past documents including the Gagasan Charter, Gagasan Memorandum on Political Donation and Money Politics, and Gagasan Memorandum on Fighting Corruption.