PAS warns opposition parties: Don’t contest in ‘our seats’

HULU SELANGOR: PAS has promised a tit-for-tat reaction should other opposition parties decide to contest in its traditional seats nationwide.

Its deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said if that happened, multi-cornered fights against Barisan Nasional would not only be seen in PAS traditional seats, but also in seats claimed by PKR in the last two general elections.

“Our friends in Pakatan Harapan should heed this stand of ours if their main focus is to defeat Umno and Barisan instead of distur­bing what belongs to us,” he said after opening a Selangor PAS pre-election gathering at Kuala Kubu Baru, yesterday.

Tuan Ibrahim said the party had a strong election machinery and was ready for GE14 whenever it is called.

State PAS commissioner Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad said the party was prepared to contest all 45 state and 15 parliamentary seats in Selangor.

PAS is currently eyeing 20 state seats and eight parliamentary seats based on the formu­la set in the last general election when it was in the Opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat.

“However, this could change as we are no longer tied to the Opposition political coopera­tion,” said Iskandar.

PAS has refused to join or cooperate with Pakatan as it did not want to have anything to do with ally-turned-nemesis DAP and its breakaway party, Parti Amanah Negara.

It, however, still maintains political ties with PKR as a form of compromise at the state level which they govern together.

On possible cooperation between PAS and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, Tuan Ibrahim said that the matter was still under conside­ration.

He said PAS was in no hurry to decide on the matter, considering that the months-old Pribumi was still “unstable”.

“Although we have a joint consultative council, we haven’t signed any agreement yet,” he added.

Pribumi, which has been plagued by resignations in the past few months, has been trying to court PAS in its attempt to avoid multi-cornered fights in Malay seats.