Hadi: Offer to join unity govt not new, made after GE15

PETALING JAYA: The offer for PAS join the unity government is not new and was made after GE15, says Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang (pic).

The Islamist party president also said that PAS would remain with Perikatan Nasional.

"(The offer to join the government was made) After the election. There is no new one," he said during a press conference at the Terengganu International Summit 2023 broadcast live on Facebook on Thursday (June 1).

He added that there were no follow-up discussions.

"We will reject it. We will continue with Perikatan and we invite other parties to join us because we are dominant with the people, so their strength is with us.

"We see that there is no hope (harapan). They are weak. So no more follow-up discussions," said the Marang MP.

Asked to comment on DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang's personal invitation to cooperate with the unity government, Abdul Hadi said that he did not do anything wrong.

The PAS president explained that there were many "brokers" who tried to convince him to cooperate with the unity government.

"As I answered previously, they do not know local politics. The brokers came from within and outside the state," he said.

On another matter, he said that the country should be led by a Muslim as the majority of the citizens are Muslims.

"Pakatan is dominated by non-Muslims and the coalition is not suitable," he said.

Abdul Hadi was earlier reported as saying that certain individuals had contacted him to ask PAS to join the unity government.

He claimed that the offer was made because Pakatan, especially PKR, realised that its position was unstable because they did not have as many Malay seats as PAS.

PAS' Khairil Nizam later claimed that it was Lim who first mooted the cooperation idea.

In response, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had said he had never made such an offer, while Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said there had been no formal discussions among leaders in the unity government and PAS for the party to join the government coalition.