GEORGE TOWN: There is a big difference between PAS splinter group the New Hope Movement (GHB) and the Islamist party, and DAP is able to work with the former, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said.

The difference is clear, he said, with GHB led by progressive and moderate Muslims.

“We can work with them as their objective is to build a more inclusive Malaysia.

“They are not like PAS, which supports the prime minister who condoned 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd),” he said.

Guan Eng, who was speaking in Penang yesterday, had been asked to comment on criticisms that GHB was no different from PAS.

GHB came about after progressive leaders in PAS lost their positions in fractious party elections in early June.

They intended for GHB to start a new political party that will form a new opposition front with PKR and DAP to replace Pakatan Rakyat, which ended after PAS decided to cut ties with DAP.

Some PAS leaders had made remarks that appeared to defend Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, although these were subsequently explained.

But both DAP and PAS have been on the warpath over the hudud issue since the Islamist party tried to implement the Islamic criminal code in Kelantan earlier this year. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 22, 2015.