WHEN PAS went on a rampage against their former ally the Democratic Action Party two years ago, the latter immediately hit back with a few choice words of their own.

In contrast, PKR’s response to the bashing it has been receiving from PAS delegates at the party’s annual congress has been measured.

The reason, said political analysts and insiders, is because unlike the DAP, the PKR, has a lot to lose from the prospect of a PAS that has turned from friend to foe.

For the past two elections, PKR candidates have depended on PAS’ superior structure on the ground to reach Malay voters.

This is why PKR de-facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said that PKR still “had a good relationship with PAS’ leadership” despite the fact that it was hammered for two days straight.

The most forceful response from a PKR leader was secretary-general’s Saifuddin Nasution Ismail statement and even that was measured.

PAS grassroots activists such as Md Noor Hussin from Gombak, Selangor perfectly illustrates the dynamic between PAS and PKR, who have been allies since the latter was formed in 1999.

In the 13th general election, he was one of PAS’ hundreds of election workers who worked tireless to campaign for Azmin Ali, the Selangor Menteri Besar from PKR.

“Me and my team put up posters and banners for Azmin. PKR had their own election workers but they were small compared to us. We did most of the work,” he said when describing the size of PAS’ election machinery that helped Azmin who was elected Gombak MP.

“Even the counting agents in the Gombak polling centres were from PAS,” said the Gombak PAS Youth chief.

Yesterday, Md Noor joined his colleagues in PAS Youth to demand that his party end ties with the man he helped put in elected office.

The PAS-PKR relationship is not just about sharing election workers and polling agents.

Analyst Mohamad Hisomuddin Bakar said PAS’s aim of winning 40 parliamentary seats in the next national polls would mean that several of its candidates would end up contesting against those from PKR and ruling coalition Barisan Nasional.

“Some of these seats were loaned from PAS to PKR but in some other seats, both PAS and PKR have a presence,” said Hisomuddin of the Ilham Centre.

A PKR senior leader said that they had been prepared for fireworks at this PAS muktamar and for a possible divorce given that PAS is now more ideologically driven than ever.

“But we also know that behind all the boisterous posturing, there is still room to negotiate with them. So it is best not to pour fuel into the fire but to wait it out and let cooler heads prevail” said the senior official who requested anonymity.

As at the end of the day, it’s not just PKR that suffers from a belligerent PAS. A survey by think tank Invoke shows that the Islamist party itself stands to be wiped out in multi-candidate contests. – April 29, 2017.