SHAH ALAM: PAS made the right decision to join Perikatan Nasional and stay as the opposition despite offers to join the present federal government, says party deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.
He said that this proves PAS does not betray its partners and voters and added that the party left it to the wisdom of president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang to decide to remain with Bersatu as it trusts his leadership fully.
The Kubang Kerian MP and Pahang state opposition chief said this during his opening speech of the PAS Youth Wing annual general assembly on Wednesday (Oct 18) in conjunction with the 69th Muktamar to be held from Friday (Oct 20) at the IDCC Convention Centre here.
"PAS refused to betray Bersatu when it was offered a chance to join the current federal government after the last general elections. This was decided by our president, as the party gave him the full mandate to decide for the party," said Tuan Ibrahim.
"We would rather stay as the opposition with more seats than betray our fellow component parties and voters and be in the government. With four states - Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu - in our hands now, we made the right decision," he added.
In his speech to about 500 delegates of PAS Youth Wing last night, Tuan Ibrahim also said that 3Rs (race, religion and royalty) should be allowed to be discussed.
"We are the Malays and the Muslims - if we are not allowed to discuss these matters which have to do with us, who else will? Our enemies will use this against us," said Tuan Ibrahim.
At a press conference later, Tuan Ibrahim said that Selangor was chosen as the venue for this year's muktamar as "an appreciation to the Selangorians who gave us big support" during the recent state elections on Aug 12.
"We were upset when we did not manage to take over the Selangor government in the last state election. However, we made deep inroads. Holding the muktamar here in Selangor is a way for us to appreciate the support of Selangorians for PAS," said Tuan Ibrahim.
He said that PAS will be increasing its efforts to woo non-Malay voters as the past negative propaganda by Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan continues to "haunt non-Muslims".
"I beseech our members to do more welfare work to get to the top by looking after the welfare of the people. PAS only has one million members nationwide, but Perikatan managed to gain three million votes in the state polls last year," said Tuan Ibrahim.
"This proves we have supporters, but we need to work on showing the real PAS to non-Muslims and non-Malays for PAS believes in a multi-racial and multi religious Malaysia. More dialogues, more visits to Perikatan states run by PAS will be arranged," he added.
He added that it has also been the tradition of PAS to hold its muktamar in "neutral" states and said that Selangor is convenient for sitting MPs to attend as Parliament is still in session.
In the last state election, Perikatan won 22 of the 56 state seats in the Selangor state assembly, an increase from the five seats held by PAS and Bersatu previously.
PAS will be holding its three-day muktamar from Oct 20 to Oct 22, with an expected attendance of 5,000 delegates and observers.
