Mat Sabu: PAS abandoned Islamic state agenda for political expediency

PAS was willing to abandon its Islamic state and hudud agendas for the sake of winning an election, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu has revealed.

According to the former PAS deputy president, when PAS worked with DAP and PKR in the now-defunct Barisan Alternatif and Pakatan Rakyat platforms, PAS also agreed to not make the hudud agenda its priority.

Instead, PAS severed its ties with DAP in Pakatan not because the latter rejected hudud, but because the Islamist party wanted to form a 'unity government' with Umno, said Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, in a ceramah in Muar last night.

Also present at the event were Umno supreme council member Ahmad Maslan, former PAS Sungai Abong assemblyperson Sheikh Ibrahim Salleh, and former Bakri MP Er Teck Hwa.

Mohamad said after the 13th general election, there were talks about forming a unity government with Umno.

“However, with no prior notification or even discussions, PAS suddenly announced severing its relationship with DAP.

"This is not a hudud problem, this is something else. PAS really wanted to be with Umno, and due to the political development then, they (PAS and Umno) ended up forming Muafakat Nasional," he added.

Thus, Mohamad told the PAS leadership to quit spreading the narrative that the party stopped working with DAP before GE14 because the latter opposed the idea of an Islamic country and the hudud agenda.

PAS agreed to abandon agendas

The Kota Raja MP noted that PAS had even agreed to not prioritise both agendas for the sake of electoral victory.

"In 1999, PAS won 27 parliamentary seats, which was a great victory after the reformasi movement.

"However, DAP got hit badly, with Lim Kit Siang losing in Bukit Bendera, and (the late) Karpal Singh losing in Jelutong," Mohamad said, noting that the matter of contention then was the Islamic state concept.

"The Chinese voters were against the Islamic state idea, and in 1999, DAP quit Barisan Alternatif. In 2004, DAP went against BN and won 12 seats.

"Around 2008, attempts to get PAS, DAP, and PKR to work together continued, and DAP asked the Islamic state concept to be abandoned, and PAS agreed to replace it with the welfare nation concept," Mohamad said.

According to him, DAP rejected the Islamic state concept after finding out that the party could not retain non-Malay support, and was opposed to hudud, which they said was against the Federal Constitution.

Last Saturday, Hadi told a ceramah at the Bakri PAS headquarters in Johor that DAP’s leadership had asked the Islamist party to abandon Islam as a condition to continue their collaboration.

DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke denied the claim, saying DAP has never told PAS to abandon Islam during the years when the two parties worked together.

PAS and DAP worked together in Barisan Alternatif from 1999 to 2002, and then in Pakatan from 2008 to 2015.

'Shows Hadi's lies'

Elaborating, Mohamad said Hadi's claim that PAS severed its ties with DAP due to the latter's "rejection" of Islam and hudud, showed the extent of the latter's lies.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang

Pakatan had decided unanimously from the beginning to reject the implementation of hudud, he said.

"Pakatan leaders gathered for a special meeting at the PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, which was also attended by Anwar Ibrahim, Karpal, and Loke.

"Karpal was adamant then that there would be no hudud, as it was against the Federal Constitution, and finally, an 'agree to disagree' conclusion was made.

"The 'agree' part pertained to the opposition and replacement of the Internal Security Act, yay to good governance and the contents of the constitution, and nay to corruption and hudud," Mohamad added.

The Simpang Jeram and Pulai by-elections are being held on Sept 9 due to the unexpected vacancy of the two seats following the death of domestic trade and cost of living minister Salahuddin Ayub on July 23.

There will be a three-way clash for the Simpang Jeram state seat, between Harapan candidate Nazri Abdul Rahman, Perikatan Nasional’s Dr Mohd Mazri Yahya, and independent S Jeganathan.

In Pulai, Harapan’s Suhaizan Kaiat will face PN’s Zulkifli Jaafar and independent candidate Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi. - Mkini