MARANG: PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang yesterday revealed that the Islamic-based party had information that several candidates picked to contest by other Pakatan Rakyat component parties had ideologies that were different to the opposition coalition.
Abdul Hadi alleged that he also received information on candidates who had an understanding that was different from the coalition.
“There are some candidates who we fear are involved in selling methamphetamine. How can they be candidates?”
“There are even some who put up pictures of (Vladimir) Lenin, (Joseph) Stalin and Karl Marx at the headquarters. PAS cannot work with such candidates,” he said referring to candidates who hold the communist ideology, but did not reveal the individual.
He said this at a PAS ceramah at Kampung Tebakang, Mukim Alor Limbat, here last night, Bernama reported.
Hadi had said this while explaining the seat clashes between PAS and other Pakatan Rakyat components. Pakatan, the opposition pact made up of PKR, PAS and DAP, will be going against each other in at least seven seats in the coming general election, which will see polling on May 5.
PAS will fight with its component party PKR and Barisan Nasional candidates in the Labuan parliamentary seat, state seats of Panti, Sungai Acheh (Penang), Kota Damansara (Selangor), Bukit Besi, Kota Putera and Seberang Takir (Terengganu).
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) is another opposition party which has been asking for entry into Pakatan Rakyat. Although the opposition coalition have yet to accept PSM as a member, both parties had agreed to work together in the polls.
The party is contesting four seats — one parliament and three state. It will use the PKR logo for the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat in Perak and Kota Damansara state seat in Selangor. It will use its own logo for the Semenyih (Selangor) and Jelapang (Perak) state seats as it was not able to reach a consensus on the issue with Pakatan Rakyat component parties. In the last two seats, it also faces PKR and DAP candidates.
Bernama also reported that Hadi claimed attitudes that conflicted with party understanding, and misunderstandings just before nomination are among the causes of overlapping seats between opposition coalition parties.
Hadi, candidate for the Marang parliamentary seat and Ru Rendang state seat, said PAS was not against their allies in the election, but decided to field their candidates in several areas to save the party and coalition from negative forces.
“We want to maintain stability, not only during the elections, and also to prevent negative forces from penetrating Pakatan,” he said.
“If there are candidates that we fear may not have been stringently chosen, then PAS will take necessary action.
“There was a clash in Johor because we waited for PKR. Nomination was also closed and they weren’t there so we were on standby because we didn’t want BN to win unopposed. When PAS entered then PKR entered,” he said.
