BUTTERWORTH, April 17 – PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has denied media reports that certain quarters in Penang PAS are boycotting next month’s Permatang Pauh by-election. She said she was just told by Permatang Pauh PAS division chief Omar Hassan that the Islamist party was behind PKR, which is defending the seat in the by-election next month under the Pakatan Rakyat banner.
“He said ‘we are with you’,” she told reporters today when approached briefly for comments at the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP), where she attended a press conference by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to announce the redevelopment of a market complex in Seberang Jaya. Dr Wan Azizah, who held the seat after her husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was sacked in 1998 until his return to politics in 2008, was asked to comment on rumours of a boycott by PAS and also talk that PKR should not nominate anyone from Anwar’s family as candidate.
She insisted that PAS in Penang was still behind PKR and PR in the fight to retain the Permatang Pauh seat, which is now vacant after Anwar was disqualified due to his sodomy conviction. Earlier this week, despite Penang PAS deputy commissioner Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa pledging the party’s support for PKR’s candidate, whose identity has yet to be announced, several news organisations reported that there was dissent among grassroots members and talks of boycott due to the hudud issue.
Malay daily Berita Harian reported that Penang PAS Youth might boycott the PR campaign unless DAP and PKR retracted their criticisms against its president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang. It reportedly wanted the PKR and DAP youth wings to withdraw their statements about Hadi, who has been blamed for reneging on the opposition’s common pact with his unilateral decisions and insistence on forcing the implementation of hudud punishments in Kelantan, as well as his overtures to political cooperation with Umno.
“We will deliberately not help PKR’s election machinery in the Permatang Pauh by-election as we want PKR Youth and also DAP Youth to withdraw their statements,” Penang PAS Youth chief Mohd Yusni Mat Piah was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, Permatang Pauh PAS information chief Jamsari Samad was reported saying in The Star Online that it would be tough to justify Dr Wan Azizah’s return if PKR fielded her again. Jamsari was also quoted in Sinar Harian today saying that PAS grassroots members in Permatang Pauh would not agree if she was chosen again to contest the seat.
“We have met with people when there was news that PKR might field Dr Wan Azizah as the candidate, people did not agree to this,” he said in the Bahasa Malaysia daily. “Wan Azizah has also made statements rejecting hudud before this, and she should understand the situation in Permatang Pauh where there are a lot of madrasahs and religious schools,” he added. According to Jamsari, PAS has 30 branches in Permatang Pauh and all their representatives have voiced concern over the choice of candidate for the seat.
