Monday November 19, 2012

Hadi: It’ll be a thrill to be PM

Reports by MERGAWATI ZULFAKAR, SIRA HABIBU, SYED AZHAR, IAN MCINTYRE, REGINA LEE and EILEEN NG

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has indicated his readiness to be appointed as prime minister if Pakatan Rakyat comes to power in the 13th general election.

KOTA BARU: Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has welcomed calls by delegates at PAS’ 58th muktamar that he be appointed the prime minister if Pakatan Rakyat came to power in the next general election.

“It is syiok (thrilling) to be PM. All I can say is that I ask God’s help that Islam will be the eventual winner. If after that I die, then so be it,” he said to shouts of Allahuakbar from the delegates during his winding-up speech.

The Ulama and Muslimat wings had earlier reiterated their demands for the PAS president to be the Pakatan’s choice of prime minister.

Muslimat representative Aiman Athirah Al-Jundi said Hadi was the best candidate and urged all leaders to “give him face”.

Ulama vice-chief Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamad, who also reaffirmed the wing’s stance, urged the delegates to stand up in support of the wing’s proposal. About 600 delegates, or half of those present, stood up.

During a press conference at the end of the assembly, Hadi was evasive on MCA’s call to Pakatan to clearly state who among them would be prime minister if the pact came to power.

“We do not want a clear stand on the prime minister’s post; we want a clear agenda,” he said.

PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, meanwhile, said the party’s central committee had never endorsed Hadi for the post.

“(PKR adviser Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim is the chosen one, even if Pakatan has not endorsed his candidacy in black and white,” he said.

Mohamad also described the call to nominate Hadi as prime minister as merely Ulama representative Hairun Nizam’s “personal view”.

But he stressed that even if DAP won the highest number of seats, Pakatan would only appoint a Malay Muslim as the prime minister.

“Even Lim and his son (DAP secretary-general) Guan Eng have agreed that Anwar is the choice. But we do not know what the scenario will be like 100 years from now,” he said.

In SHAH ALAM, Anwar said he would discuss the matter with his Pakatan colleagues.

“It’s okay. No problem. We will discuss in a nice manner”, he said and quickly got into his car after launching a convention on national education at Universiti Selangor.

However, DAP deputy chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw said the consensus from all three parties in the Opposition pact was that Anwar was the candidate for prime minister.

“So, whether the Ulama wing in PAS says otherwise, it makes no difference,” he said.

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