‘PAS-Umno combo nothing new’

PETALING JAYA: A ban on alcohol consumption and dancing was among the eight conditions set by PAS in its early cooperation with Umno in the 1970s, says PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang (pic).

According to the Islamist party’s mouthpiece Harakah Daily, Abdul Hadi said that one of the conditions spelt out for Umno was that PAS would not be bound by the rules of the Alliance Party, which later became Barisan Nasional.

Other conditions demanded by PAS included giving the party freedom to preach about Islam at government offi­ces and universities, said Abdul Hadi. He said the cooperation was to enable the propagation of Islam to be carried out in stages, including via radio and television, where the call for Islamic prayers would be broadcast.

“The cooperation was also to ensure activities that went against Islam be prevented, including dan­cing and alcohol consumption,” Abdul Hadi was quoted as saying during a Rantau Panjang PAS division meeting on Saturday.

PAS joined the Alliance Party in 1972, but left in 1977 following a disagreement with Umno over which party should govern Kelantan. Abdul Hadi said the country’s political situation worsened after PAS left the coalition.

He also said during that time, the people’s understanding about religion and politics was still poor.

“There were still many of those who looked at politics and religion as separate entities.

“People were not brave enough to abandon such thinking,” the portal reported him as saying.

On March 5, PAS and Umno announced that they had formalised their cooperation for the sake of uniting the ummah (community).

The cooperation between the two parties so far had seen Barisan candidates winning the Cameron Highlands and Semenyih by-elections held this year.