KUALA LUMPUR: After months of tension within Pakatan Rakyat, PAS leaders are confident that the court cases of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang today will help the Islamist party mend ties with its allies.

PAS’s contrary stance on the Selangor menteri besar (MB) impasse, hudud, and Oktoberfest revealed even deeper cracks in the opposition pact, as leaders from the three parties refused to see eye-to-eye on these matters and took shots at one another through the media.

However, PAS vice-president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said he expected the two court cases today to unite all parties in Pakatan. “Both cases are important for the parties, and will also strengthen our ties. It will be the platform for Pakatan to grow closer,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

Tuan Ibrahim himself had been at the fore of the Selangor MB issue, and was part of the cleric faction that had opposed PKR’s choice for the top post in the state, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Both Abdul Hadi and Anwar’s cases fall on the same day, but Abdul Hadi’s defamation suit will be at the Kuala Terengganu High Court while Anwar’s sodomy appeal will be heard at the Federal Court in Putrajaya.

PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub also expressed hope that justice would prevail during Anwar’s appeal today and tomorrow. “I feel for his family, for Dr Wan Azizah who has experienced too much torture and suffering,” he said. He confirmed that PAS leaders would attend the appeal at the Federal Court in solidarity with Anwar.

PAS central committee member Khalid Samad said he would attend Anwar’s appeal in Putrajaya today to show his support for the PKR de facto chief.

“Some will go there, some will go to Kuala Terengganu. I will be in Putrajaya, because I believe Anwar’s case is about fighting Umno and Barisan Nasional’s abuse of power.” — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 28, 2014.