Harapan: PAS pawns wives but we empower them

Pakatan Harapan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail criticised how PAS sees women by using them as collateral.

Wan Azizah, who is also PKR president, said this in reference to PAS' practice of requiring its election candidates to take a religious oath or baiah in which they must divorce their wives if they were to switch to another political party.

"How could we do such things to wives who helped build families? I can't imagine it.

"If families are to be linked to politics, it is unacceptable," she told an 8,000-strong ceramah in Bachok, Kelantan last night.

Earlier, Kelantan Amanah Youth chief Hazmi Hassan also criticised the practice by PAS, which he contrasted to Harapan's policies.

Hazmi said not only has Harapan nominated a woman as deputy prime minister but it had also prioritised them in its manifesto which was launched on Friday. 

"In PAS, they pawn wives for the general election through the baiah.

"In contrast, we empower women by offering the deputy prime minister position and propose Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contribution for housewives," he said.

During her speech, Wan Azizah also urged Kelantanese to vote in the 14th general election.

She said this was important to overcome possible cheating in the general election, raising concerns about postal votes.

"In the last general election, there was only 400,000 postal voters. This will increase to 800,000," she said. -Mkini