“Mahathir is good for us. He is able to divide the Umno Malay votes,” PAS central committee member Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Aziz told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

Nik Abduh, who is the son of the late Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat said he has trust in the people’s ability to make an informed decision based on what they read on the Internet from “both sides of the political divide”.

“They can gauge for themselves what is right and wrong. They are able to make up their mind,” said the Pasir Mas MP, adding that voters were likely to choose PAS.

PAS is not part of Pakatan Harapan (PH), the four-party opposition alliance which has nominated Mahathir as prime minister.

Instead, PAS said it was working together with several smaller parties under the so-called Gagasan Sejahtera.

Mahathir, who is also PPBM chairman, is a strong critic of PAS, and has often spoken out against the party’s religious understanding.

Nik Abduh said Mahathir’s attack on PAS would be futile.

“Mahathir criticising us will have no impact on us,” he said.

Nik Abduh admitted that PAS’ decision to stay out of the PH coalition had cost it some non-Muslim support.

“We may have lost some non-Muslim voters after leaving DAP,” he said, referring to one of the partners in PH. “But there are still others who know us and they support us.”

PAS is planning to contest 130 parliamentary seats, forcing three-cornered contests with BN and PH.