PAS weakened opposition and lost its chance at Putrajaya, says Ramasamy

 Urimai chairman says the Islamic party handed Putrajaya to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on a silver platter by severing ties with Bersatu.

Urimai chairman P Ramasamy said if PN had remained united, it could have mounted a serious challenge to form the federal government.

PETALING JAYA:

PAS has only itself to blame for weakening the opposition bloc and missing a genuine chance to take over Putrajaya, Urimai chairman P Ramasamy said today.

Ramasamy, whose party is a member of the loose coalition known as Ikatan Prihatin Rakyat, said PAS’s decision to sever ties with Bersatu, coupled with internal leadership decisions in Perikatan Nasional (PN), contributed to the fragmentation of the opposition.

“There is a possibility that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim might congratulate the PAS leadership for accomplishing a political feat that Pakatan Harapan itself could not achieve,” he said in a statement.

“Similarly, Umno leaders might do the same for contributing to the weakening of the opposition front.”

Ramasamy said if PN had remained united, it could have mounted a serious challenge to form the federal government.“The inability of the PAS leadership, headed by Abdul Hadi Awang, to seize this political opportunity was its greatest drawback,” he said.

Ramamsamy also said that PAS had never developed a truly national political orientation, anchoring its strength in a handful of states while miscalculating what was needed for a broader electoral coalition.

“Had PAS possessed a truly national political orientation, it could have mended ties with Bersatu. The political differences between the two parties were not insurmountable,” he said.

Despite the split, Ramasamy said it would be premature to write off Bersatu, suggesting that the party could still reposition itself independently.

“Bersatu, freed from the burden of PAS, might well emerge as a qualitatively different political party from what it was before,” he said. - FMT