Thursday May 2, 2013

GE13: PAS leader Ustaz Abdul Hamid Derani pulls back support for Pakatan

KUALA LUMPUR: Kelantan PAS information officer Ustaz Abdul Hamid Derani has withdrawn his support for the party, saying that if they win, leaders of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition would fight each other for ministerial posts as they did for seat allocation.

Abdul Hamid, said this became clear to him on nomination day with multi-cornered fights involving Pakatan allies.

He said although the matter had since been resolved, tension remained high at grassroots level.

“The war with each other over seats shows a clear sign of fractures in the coalition. Imagine what will happen if they are chosen by the people and have to form a government,” he said.

Abdul Hamid said even if Pakatan won, it would only be with a slim majority of 53% and seats equally distributed among the three parties.

“There will be conflict over three issues. First, who becomes prime minister as PAS and PKR have differing views?

“Next is, who gets to be deputy prime minister? DAP will demand the post because its leaders cannot be PM and other parties will have to bow to this because the party can withdraw from Pakatan and cause their slim majority to crumble.

“And after that, the question of which party members become Cabinet members,” he said, reiterating Umno's statements that Pakatan would plunge the country into chaos if given the mandate.

Abdul Hamid said he wished to remain a PAS member, though he understood that his open statements could cause him to be kicked out.

“I am confident I will be (punished) and I will leave it to the central committee. But that is not important. What is important is I need to tell the truth,” he said.

Abdul Hamid, who was surrounded by Barisan Nasional officials at a press conference in PWTC, added that he felt PKR would not agree to PAS' plan to implement hudud law if Pakatan formed the government.

“They all have different ideologies and are still fighting over it this close to polling day,” he said.

Abdul Hamid is a former Umno speaker who served as religious assistant to International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed before he joined PAS in 2007.

For more election stories, please visit The Star's GE13 site

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