KUALA LUMPUR: PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang finally broke his silence months after the Selangor menteri besar (MB) saga, saying that he had been unwell lately.

He told Harakahdaily at the Parliament lobby on Monday that his condition had forced him to turn down several ceramah invitations at night.

It was reported that Abdul Hadi had also been skipping meetings with Pakatan Rakyat partners and his own party since the Selangor MB saga.

“I have not been feeling too good these days. Even talking is difficult,” he said.

Earlier, the PAS news portal reported that Abdul Hadi, who was taking his turn to debate the Budget 2015 in the morning, appeared frail, as if he had lost some weight.

The portal added that the Marang MP was able to speak for no more than 10 minutes.

Abdul Hadi said he was not as active as before his hospitalisation in Istanbul, Turkey, in May.

“There are no programmes tonight (Monday), so I will rest,” he said.

Quoting sources, The Malaysian Insider reported on Monday that Abdul Hadi, 66, was being persuaded by his peers in PAS to resign as party president, to prevent his health and relationship with other Pakatan leaders from worsening.

The Islamist party’s relationship with partners, DAP and PKR, has been strained lately by Abdul Hadi’s ‘cold’ attitude towards the coalition.

He has not been attending the coalition’s presidential council meetings since disagreeing with PKR and DAP over the move to remove Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as Selangor MB in August. He was also said to be absent during the launch of Pakatan’s shadow budget 2015 at the Dewan Rakyat on Oct 10.

However, opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim reportedly played down allegations that Abdul Hadi was giving Pakatan the cold shoulder, saying that he was in contact with the PAS leader.

“It’s not nice to say that. I have communicated with him. It’s not a problem.” — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 12, 2014.