Bersatu still legally in PN, says Takiyuddin

 However, PN secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan says Bersatu has severed ties with PN from a moral and political standpoint.

PN secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan said Bersatu’s status as a PN component party could not be denied legally despite PAS suspending political ties with the party.

PETALING JAYA:

Bersatu remains a component party of Perikatan Nasional (PN) from a legal and constitutional standpoint, says PN secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan.

He said Bersatu’s status as a PN component party could not be denied legally despite PAS suspending political ties with the party, Berita Harian reported.

“As secretary-general, I can confirm that, legally, Bersatu is still a component party of PN.

“But morally and politically, Bersatu has severed ties with PN,” he told reporters in Kota Bharu today.

Takiyuddin, who is also PAS secretary-general, said the relationship between Bersatu and PAS should be distinguished from Bersatu’s status within PN.

He said Bersatu’s decision to use its own logo and field candidates under its own symbol in the recent Negeri Sembilan state election showed that it had distanced itself from PN.

“Technically, they have left. They contested the election under the Bersatu logo, not PN’s.

“So, there is no longer any political understanding between PAS and Bersatu. It has ended,” he said.

Last Friday, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said the party has closed the door to the possibility of the Islamic party mending ties with Bersatu, despite both remaining part of PN.

Hadi pointed to Bersatu’s decision to go solo in the Negeri Sembilan polls on Aug 1 and its intention to cooperate with Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the impending Melaka state election.

Hadi previously claimed that Bersatu had automatically ceased to be part of PN after announcing plans to form a new political coalition, with Bersatu secretary-general Azmin Ali then stating that there was no clause in PN’s constitution that provides for a party’s membership to be automatically terminated.

Cracks started emerging in PAS and Bersatu’s relationship towards the end of last year, with tensions culminating in PAS ending their political cooperation in June.

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin later accused PAS, which now chairs PN, of leading the opposition coalition astray and making it “toxic”. - FMT