PAS division leader Zaharudin Muhammad has clarified that his earlier warning that Perikatan Nasional could lose up to 37 parliamentary seats if Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar became coalition chairperson was intended to strengthen unity within the bloc.
The Sungai Buloh PAS chief said the remark had been misinterpreted as a prediction rather than a cautionary scenario.
“It was actually a signal so that all PN components would not attack one another and instead strengthen each other.
“It does not mean that if Dr Sam (Samsuri) becomes PN chairperson, PN will immediately lose 37 seats,” Zaharudin (above), son-in-law of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, told reporters in Putrajaya today.
Previously, Zaharudin said internal data and analyses suggested the party could lose as many as 37 parliamentary seats if Samsuri were to replace Muhyiddin Yassin as PN chairperson at this stage.
He had made the remarks on Jan 13, about a month before the PN supreme council meeting that named Samsuri as Muhyiddin’s successor.
Worst-case scenario
Zaharudin today insisted that his initial assessment was based on several possible political outcomes, including a positive scenario, but the warning referred specifically to a worst-case situation.
“There are three scenarios, one of them positive. The warning I gave concerned the worst scenario. If PN takes the wrong step, it could lose 37 parliamentary seats,” he said.
However, he again declined to elaborate further, saying the details involved confidential political data.
“I cannot share the details because it involves political data,” he insisted.
Zaharudin, who had voiced support for PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man to take over as PN chairperson, today said he hoped developments within the opposition coalition would now proceed smoothly.
“The important thing is unity. Whoever becomes chairperson must become an instrument that unites,” he said.
‘Technical issues remain’
Asked about Bersatu’s sacked deputy president, Hamzah Zainudin, and 18 incumbent or former Bersatu MPs reportedly pledging loyalty to PAS and Samsuri, Zaharudin said the situation was still being worked out.
“As far as I know, there are many technical matters that need to be resolved,” he said.
He added that media portrayals suggesting the MPs had definitively aligned themselves with certain factions were overly simplistic.
“I read media reports saying they are leaning this way or that way, but it is not absolute like that. There are other technical issues involved,” he said.
Muhyiddin had, since Samsuri’s appointment, moved to close ranks with PAS and Hadi, including leaving the opposition leader’s position held by Hamzah to the Islamist party.
Yesterday, PN deputy-secretary general Takiyuddin Hassan said Hamzah remains the opposition leader and all the MPs sacked from Bersatu are also retained as part of the opposition bloc. - Mkini
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