PAS has lost its fangs in PN govt - Khalid Samad

SLIM POLLS | Six months into its current role in government, PAS leaders have realised that they couldn't solve issues which they had fiercely raised when they were in the opposition, said Amanah communications director Khalid Samad.

He said in the past, PAS had played up certain divisive issues to serve its own political interest and resorted to playing racial and religious cards to stir anger among the people.

"It seems all the issues that PAS had raised when it was the opposition, now that they are the government, they can't highlight them anymore.

"Instead, they have given excuses that it's not easy to solve issues as compared to when they were the opposition," said Khalid (above), who was with PAS from 1983 to 2015 before joining its progressive leaders who broke off to form Amanah.

"This shows that they only played up certain issues and exploited them for their political interest.

"The issues include (firefighter) Adib (Mohd Kassim ), and Dong Zong which has just released a statement regarding 10 new vernacular schools... now both PAS and Bersatu are quiet," he told Malaysiakini.

He was met in Slim where he joined the Amanah machinery to campaign for independent candidate Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi yesterday. Amir is contesting against BN's Mohd Zaidi Aziz and another independent candidate S Santharasekaran.

In the past, PAS had repeatedly demanded that the Pakatan Harapan government, whose home minister was Muhyiddin Yassin, arrest those responsible behind Adib's death.

Under the Perikatan Nasional government now led by Muhyiddin, the de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan had said the police would investigate the incident. 

As for vernacular schools, particularly on the issue of teaching Jawi in schools, PAS was vocal and had been involved in rallies to protest against the educationist group Dong Zong. 

Recently, Sin Chew Daily reported that MCA had announced the plan to build 10 new SJKCs and relocate six others to bigger venues, while Dong Zong had lauded the announcement. 

"When we were being honest and respected the rights of Chinese while emphasising on doing things according to the law, we were labelled as traitors. They (PAS) said we bowed to the DAP.

"We hope with the formation of the PN government, the people can open their eyes so they are not being cheated again," Khalid said.

DAP and Amanah share same principles

On the party being labelled as kuda tunggangan (tool) to DAP, Khalid, who is the former federal territories minister, said the label arose because the critics were only inclined to create a racial issue.

"They don't understand that we fight for certain principles which reject racism and corruption.

"We joined hands with the DAP when it brought up issues which were in line with our principles. But for PAS, they are inclined to turn issues into racial sentiment.

"We fight (former premier) Najib (Abdul Razak), yes Najib is Malay, but we don't fight him because he is Malay, we fight him because of corruption, and the DAP fights him because of corruption.

"So we fight corruption together. This is what some people don't understand. When they see us with the DAP, they labelled us as DAP's servants," he said.

Slim voters will go to the polls on Aug 29. - Mkini