In a sharp response to the PAS moves, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has urged the Islamist party to do the “honourable” thing and order its leaders to vacate their positions in the Selangor administration once it decides to sever ties with PKR.
The quit motion was tabled at the PAS Youth muktamar today by Terengganu delegate Abdul Rahman Che Mat and passed without debate, accompanied by cries of “takbir” (God is great) from the delegates.
“There have been all sorts of attacks and allegations against our president (Abdul Hadi Awang) and PAS,” said Abdul Rahman.
“Before this, our political cooperation was based on several conditions which have been contravened. Therefore, we propose that our political cooperation be terminated. ‘Cerai talak tiga’,” he said, alluding to the Islamic concept of a final dissolution of a marriage.
Meanwhile, Aubidullah Fahim Ibrahim, a PAS Youth delegate who supported the motion, cited last year’s Selena Gomez concert as an example of how PKR had contravened the conditions of the political cooperation.
He said one of the five guidelines of the cooperation was the strengthening of Islam, claiming Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali had not followed it.
“How they were excited with the Selena Gomez concert. The voices of PAS, Muslims and NGOs were ignored.”
Although the Dewan Ulama and Youth wings have adopted the quit motion, PAS’s Syura Council, the party’s highest policy-making body, must still make the final decision on the matter.
In the event the Syura Council approves the decision to pull out, a clash between PAS and PKR could be on the cards, especially in Selangor where both parties are joined in a coalition government along with the DAP.
PAS, PKR and DAP were once part of the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat coalition.