SHAH ALAM: PAS has dismissed allegations that it is racist and instead claimed that it was Umno, its partner-turned-rival, that had blocked it from connecting with non-Muslims.
Party president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang said the party’s efforts to reach out to non-Malays and non-Muslims via dialogue sessions had to be halted when Umno was in power.
“We had arranged for dialogue sessions with non-Muslims, but we were not permitted to hold these programmes at hotels.
“They were cancelled and blocked,” he told a press conference after launching the 69th PAS muktamar at the IDCC here yesterday.
Umno, the lynchpin of the Barisan Nasional coalition, had governed Malaysia from 1957 till 2018, when it was defeated in the 14th General Election.
PAS, which was also an Opposition party, banded together with Umno in 2019 to form Muafakat Nasional.
The two parties were part of the Federal Government from March 2020 to October 2022. They parted ways before the 15th General Election last year.
In his opening speech earlier, Abdul Hadi said the party had to attract support from non-Malays to stand a chance of forming the next Federal Government.
During his press conference, he admitted that the Islamist party’s narrative has yet to reach non-Muslims.
“Information about us did not reach non-Muslims. The media is limited, so is information on social media. Not all our machinery can cover all the ground.
“Our information and narrative did not reach (them) and was disrupted by negative propaganda that puts Islam in a bad light,” he said.
However, Abdul Hadi is optimistic about gaining non-Malay support following the party’s recent victories in the six state elections and the increase in votes it received in the Simpang Jeram, Pulai and Pelangai by-elections.
He said the party has experience in ruling Kelantan for close to 30 years and claimed that the state’s non-Malays had accepted it.
“The non-Malays know how we governed, the same in Terengganu and Kedah,” he said, adding there are plans to hold more dialogue sessions with non-Malay voters in preparation for GE16.
He said PAS made inroads with young Malay Muslims voters in GE15 and the state elections.
“What is interesting is that we are getting more support from the youth who gained knowledge from social media.
“And we have seen the shift from the voting streams, especially from the youth, so we need to pay attention to this,” he said.
