FOR Pakatan Harapan, the fight is against Barisan Nasional, leaders of the opposition coalition said in response to former ally PAS’s warning that they should stay away from the Islamist party’s seats.

Unimpressed by the “warning”, PH leaders asked what right PAS had to prohibit them from contesting the party’s seats.

“Anyone who comes between us (and BN), sorry man. Go away and face the wrath of the people,” Amanah vice-president Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa said.

He was commenting on PAS’s warning to its former allies not to poach its seats in the next general election.

Its deputy president, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, said the Islamist party would not hesitate to mount multi-cornered fights against BN but also seats claimed by PKR in the last two general elections.

Mujahid said Tuan Ibrahim was just telling voters that whatever happened to Malaysia did not matter.

“He is saying that it is not his problem. His concern is only contesting the elections. But why is PAS contesting the elections?

“At least for Amanah, PKR, DAP and Bersatu (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia), we are all clear of our objective. We are in it to fight BN, kleptocracy, and change the government.”

Mujahid, a former PAS leader, said Tuan Ibrahim either lacked or had no vision.

“Clearly, the fight is against BN, if we all agree that BN is our mutual rival. That’s why we have asked PAS to join us.

“Then, we can sit and talk nicely… no need for PAS to be shouting out there like they are doing now.”

DAP assistant secretary-general Dr P. Ramasamy said the way Tuan Ibrahim spoke was as if there was some kind of understanding between PAS and PH.

“We have no deal between us. It is free-for-all. The question of PH parties not allowed to contest (in PAS seats) and vice versa does not arise,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Ramasamy, who is also Penang deputy chief minister II, said PAS was not the same party after the death of the much-respected late spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat two years ago.

“What former PAS leaders had done for the party has been undone by (current president Abdul) Hadi Awang. Let him continue to make his own name infamous.”

There has been bad blood between DAP and PAS for years when the Islamist party campaigned to implement hudud in Malaysia.

The hudud ambition was shelved when DAP, PKR and PAS formed Pakatan Rakyat in the run-up to the 2008 general election.

But the opposition pact collapsed in 2015 after DAP and PAS fell out over the latter’s insistence on implementing the shariah penal code in PAS-ruled Kelantan.

PAS left the coalition, now renamed Pakatan Harapan, which also includes PAS splinter party Amanah and Bersatu.

PAS has since been warming up to Umno to advance its campaign to get Hadi’s RUU355 bill passed to enhance the Shariah Courts’ punishments.

“PAS is sleeping with Umno. It is an extension or a branch of Umno… they are now like a party with two names,” Ramasamy said. 

Bersatu information chief Kamarudin Md Nor has also hit out at PAS, asking why the party did not say the same thing to Umno.

“Who is he to stop us from contesting? Why isn’t PAS telling Umno not to contest in its seats, too?”

He also said there was no deal between PAS and PH, so all parties were free to contest whereever they wanted.

“Bersatu will only negotiate seats with those who want to prevent three-cornered fights. We don’t submit to threats,” Kamarudin said.

If three-cornered fights do happen, votes would be split among PAS, BN and one of the PH parties, namely PKR, Amanah and Bersatu, which have more Malay members compared with DAP.

PKR election director Saifudin Nasution Ismail also said PKR would only discuss with its PH colleagues on seats to contest in GE14.

“We are only going to discuss among our own component members,” he said. The statement means PAS is excluded.

Saifudin said the ideal situation for PH would still be a straight fight against BN.

Another Amanah leader, Khalid Samad, who is also Shah Alam MP, said he never saw a “stranger party than PAS”.

“That kind of warning can only be made on Mars, not this planet. This is a democracy. Anybody can contest anywhere he or she wants, as long as there is no deal saying otherwise,” the party’s communications director said.

PAS, which is holding its muktamar (national general assembly) this week in Kota Sarang Semut in Kedah, has announced that it is going after 80 parliamentary seats in GE14. – April 25, 2017.