KUALA SELANGOR: PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said the party will remain in Pakatan Rakyat, even as the PAS Dewan Ulama on Wednesday voted to cut ties with coalition partner DAP.

Hadi told the 61st PAS muktamar here that its cooperation with DAP and PKR was based on Pakatan’s common policy, which covered good governance and the fight against graft and leakages, among others.

He said all three parties should be allowed to pursue their own agendas not included in the common policy.

“That is why, even though we know our party colleagues are fighting for a secular constitution, which goes against PAS’ policy, PAS has never asked them to study and bring the secular policy into discussions.

“We have never interfered over who should or should not be in the party’s leadership, even though we are attacked day and night.

“Because of this, PAS will continue to carry out the tahaluf siyasi (cooperation) with Pakatan, as long as it doesn’t go against the Quran and Sunnah,” Abdul Hadi said in his keynote address.

However, he reminded delegates that PAS could not be tied to any coalition that required it to abandon its Islamic agenda.

Abdul Hadi also warned the party not to be carried away by worldly victories and neglect its duties in upholding Islam to ensure the world was governed by religious rules.

PAS’ ties within Pakatan were strained last year after Abdul Hadi openly opposed PKR’s Kajang Move and the coalition’s choice for Selangor menteri besar, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

PAS’ push for hudud in Kelantan early this year further frayed its relations with PKR and DAP, who oppose the implementation of the Islamic criminal law on the grounds that it is not included in the pact’s common policy.

DAP recently announced it will freeze all ties with Abdul Hadi, citing his tendency to make unilateral decisions and continued absence at the Pakatan leadership council meetings. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 5, 2015.