BOMBSHELL – MAHATHIR BACKSTABS ANWAR WITH HADI: DR M HAS ‘INFORMALLY’ INVITED PAS TO JOIN FEDERAL GOVT – TAKIYUDDIN SAYS NOW AWAITING ‘OFFICIAL’ INVITE FROM REST OF PAKATAN

KUALA LUMPUR: PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan says the party has not received a formal invitation from Pakatan Harapan to join the federal government.

Takiyuddin said an invitation by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad alone did not represent a welcome mat from the entire Pakatan government.

In order for PAS to consider joining the federal government, the invitation must come officially, said Takiyuddin.

“(Join the) federal government? We are the opposition. That depends on the offer.

“At the moment, we have yet to receive anything from the government.

“When you talk about the federal government, that means the Pakatan government. It (the government) is not the prime minister alone.

“It’s a different thing if you say we were invited by the prime minister to join the federal government,” he said when met at the MCA Chinese New Year open house here Saturday (Jan 25).

He said an official invitation by Dr Mahathir for PAS to join the federal government “has not happened” and that it was “a presumption of all parties.”

Reports on the possibility of PAS joining the federal government surfaced after a photo of a recent meeting between Dr Mahathir, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar went viral.

To a question asking Takiyuddin to clarify whether PAS had received an informal invitation by Dr Mahathir to join the federal government, he replied: “Not officially, not officially. This must come officially.

“Informally, informally yes, we openly declare our party will cooperate and support Dr Mahathir as prime minister until the end of the term.

“That is our open stand in Parliament and also outside,” said Takiyuddin.

He said that as an opposition party, the most important thing now was to join forces with the ruling government, especially Dr Mahathir, to ensure the prosperity and development of the nation.

“We feel we are also duty bound to ensure the prosperity of our country together with others,” he said.

Takiyuddin said based on PAS’ history of cooperating with other parties from both sides of the divide including Umno, DAP and PKR, it was not impossible for PAS to cooperate with Dr Mahathir’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

“Our party is willing to cooperate with any other parties provided all will be sincere and honest for the sake of the rakyat and the country,” he said.

When asked to clarify if PAS was also open to working with DAP, a party it cooperated with in GE13 then said would never reconcile with, Takiyuddin said only time will tell.

“We can’t say at the moment. Wait for the time.

“We’ll cross the bridge when we get to it,” he said.

In 2016, PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin regarded the PAS-DAP split as beyond reconciliation because DAP reneged on its agreement to cooperate with PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

ANN