SHAH ALAM: No politician is bigger than their party and this has been proven time and again by those who fell out of the radar once they left the party, said PAS vice-president Datuk Idris Ahmad.
He said this during a ceramah on the sidelines of the PAS’ 69th Muktamar on Saturday (Oct 21) night.
The Bagan Serai MP said that political leaders who think they can make it on their own should learn from those who left PAS and formed a new party but failed to rise, without naming any individuals.
Over the years, PAS had some of its leaders including its former president Datuk Seri Asri Muda back in 1982 create splinter parties but failed to create an impact.
Idris, who was former religious minister, further said that despite changes in the types of leadership in PAS over seven decades, the party survived and rose higher as it never abandoned its main base of Islamic struggle.
“Ours is the struggle in the name of Islam but we have never claimed that PAS is Islam or vice versa. Ours is a political party which works on Islamic values.
“PAS has grown from a village party to a national party and is well experienced to govern a country as it has all the right experiences.
“We have been the opposition, the state governments, part of the federal government and also fought with all other political parties. This means we have all the right experiences to govern a country as we have been through the ups and downs.
“As the Chinese saying goes, the best gold is tested by the hottest fire and we have gone through the fires,” said Idris.
He also pointed out that PAS has now become the base for the Malays and no leaders should be arrogant to perceive themselves as bigger than the party.
“Leaders will come and go but it is the party which will be constant. Those who leave the party are no longer detectable by the political radar.
“Leaders too should realise that Malays are starting to accept that politics is a part of religion when before, they used to think politics is a dirty word as PAS has persevered to model that politics is not dirty.
“We should also not create animosity with the non-Muslims or victimise them in any way as it is our duty as Islamic leaders to side with the ones in the right, regardless of race or religion,” said Idris.
The issue of getting the support of the non-Muslims has been much talked about in this Muktamar by PAS leaders.
This was due to the fact in the last general election and state elections, PAS under Perikatan Nasional won big on Malay votes but failed to garner non-Malay votes.
