Hadi not keen to be PM if Pakatan wins GE

Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has said that he does not want to be prime minister even if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) were to win in the upcoming general election.

He explained today that PAS’s current goal is to implement a welfare state concept should the federal opposition take over Putrajaya.

“What is important right now is that we want to save the country... anybody can become prime minister,” Hadi(picture) told reporters today after a meeting with Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz yesterday cautioned PKR and the DAP against PAS’s strengthened liberal image, claiming Hadi was aiming to replace Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as PR’s prime minister-designate.

In his analysis of the just-concluded PAS polls, the Umno supreme council member said a glaring trend had emerged in the usually conservative Islamist party — a newfound lust for power.

The PAS leadership’s new political game now, said Nazri, was to alter its Islamic image in order to appear more acceptable to the non-Muslims and, ultimately, to become the strongest party in PR, above PKR and the DAP and predicted that this uprising of PAS would eventually lead to a power tussle among all three PR parties in the coming general election as they would likely try to outdo one another to seek greater representation in Parliament.

Meanwhile, Hadi denied that newly-elected deputy president Mohamad Sabu was a liability to the party.

“For Umno, Mohamad Sabu is an opportunity to take down PAS. But for PAS, Mohamad Sabu is a weapon to take down Umno,” the PAS president explained.

He also denied that there were PAS members who were disappointed that the Islamist party had shifted its focus from fighting for an Islamic state to now pushing for a welfare state.

He said that PAS’s concept of a welfare state had “noble” elements which could “save” the country.