SHAH ALAM: PAS has lost its sting in the country’s political arena due to the involvement of Pakatan Rakyat’s de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in various issues, including those involving Muslins and Malays, said Jati president Datuk Dr Hasan Ali.
He alleged that the situation had worsened since Anwar wants to have a say in every decision made by the party’s leaders, especially PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, a move that has not gone down well among grassroots members.
“When the spiritual leader (Nik Abdul Aziz) says something, for example he says ‘A’ about a policy, nobody can change it to ‘B’ but when Anwar meets him to discuss the policy, it becomes an ‘A minus’,” he told Bernama.
He added that Anwar’s involvement had weakened PAS to the extend of becoming the weakest party in the Pakatan Rakyat pact, compared with when it (PAS) was on its own.
Hasan said PAS’ weakness was clearly evident since its struggles seem to have taken a diversion from its original track. He alleged that grassroots members had shown their retaliation by throwing their support behind PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang for the post of Prime Minister, instead of Anwar.
Hasan said religious scholars (Ulama) in PAS, especially the ‘PAS Dewan Ulama’ chiefs however, had stood firm on several issues that the Pakatan Rakyat had tried to influence, especially issues like hudud and kalimah Allah. — Bernama