KUALA LUMPUR: PAS has chastised DAP for insisting that ailing Islamist party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang attend Pakatan Rakyat leadership council meetings.

Its vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar told its Pakatan partner to be “careful” when making such statements.

“I hope my friends in DAP will be careful when making statements. We cannot force him [Abdul Hadi] to attend. He is sick.

“How is he to attend with such poor health?” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

In saying that such statements were not mindful, he said PAS also did not continuously hound DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to attend meetings all the time.

Mahfuz is the second senior PAS leader who has ticked off DAP for pushing for Abdul Hadi to attend the meetings.

Previously, PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali said Guan Eng was making a big deal out of something minor, and told the Penang Chief Minister not to interfere in the affairs of other parties.

He also said the cooperation in Pakatan was between parties, not individuals, adding that if a comparison was to be made then Guan Eng had missed more meetings than Abdul Hadi since 2008.

It was reported that Abdul Hadi had been skipping meetings with Pakatan partners and his own party since the Selangor menteri besar imbroglio.

Two days ago, he told the HarakahDaily at the Parliament lobby that he had lately been unwell. He also said that he was not as active as before his hospitalisation in Istanbul, Turkey, in May.

Guan Eng insisted that Abdul Hadi attend Pakatan meetings to ensure the coalition was able to deliver on its promises and fulfil its commitments, adding that his party was willing to wait until the senior leader was available to do so.

“Since Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi’s presence at Pakatan Leadership Council meetings is necessary as he is the sole authority in PAS who can make decisions, the DAP will wait until he is available to attend such meetings,” Guan Eng said in a statement on Wednesday. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 14, 2014.