PAS launched its election machinery in PKR’s number one seat Permatang Pauh today.

The seat is synonymous with former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who is now serving a five-year sentence for sodomy.

The launch in Kubang Semang was a well-attended event. Some 500 members and supporters turned up to witness PAS vice-president Idris Ahmad launch the machinery. He was even escorted to the venue by a convoy of about 100 motorcyclists.

But that was it. There was no official announcement by PAS that the Islamist party was contesting the parliamentary seat or the three state seats in it.

The division chief Omar Hassan, in his speech, asked the PAS leadership to let them contest the seats.

Idris then told reporters that the party was merely launching its machinery in parliamentary constituencies, not only Permatang Pauh.

He said PAS was just getting ready while it waited for its state leadership committees to send in their reports for the central leaders to make their final decision.

He said it was not decided yet how many seats PAS will contest nationwide, let alone Penang, as its research was still ongoing.

“We may be contesting 120 or even 140 seats nationwide. Where we will contest will depend on the leadership’s decision.

“We need the reports from the state committees that are studying the seats. We are going into details, down to the individual voter to find out which party he or she will likely support,” he said.

Idris added that PAS had already started its election work on the ground, with the polls looming, and the launch of its machineries was only a formality.

PKR holds two state seats in Permatang Pauh – Penanti and the more urban Seberang Jaya. PAS holds Permatang Pasir, its sole seat in Pakatan Harapan-controlled Penang.

It is widely known that PAS had played a huge role on the ground to canvas for votes, especially in rural Malay areas, for Pakatan Rakyat – the old coalition made up of the Islamist party, PKR and DAP.

The Permatang Pauh seat was traditionally contested by PAS previously. After it started working together with PKR, PAS left the seat to Anwar’s party.

But now, without any cooperation with PKR, PAS is expected to contest in seats PKR and other PH parties are defending and eyeing.

This will lead to three-corner fights that will split votes. Observers have predicted that this could potentially ruin PH’s chances to wrestle Putrajaya from Barisan Nasional.

Ties had been strained between PKR and PAS, even when PR was still in existence.

In 2014, during the Selangor Menteri Besar crisis, there were disagreements between both parties over the candidates for the post, which included PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Then in April 2015, when Dr Wan Azizah contested in the Permatang Pauh by-election to retain the seat after Anwar went to jail, the Permatang Pauh PAS division threatened to “freeze” its election machinery.

There were unhappiness between the two parties after PKR reportedly refused to support PAS’ push to implement the Islamic Penal Code in Kelantan and criticised the Islamist party’s president Abdul Hadi Awang.

At the time, Omar had demanded an apology from PKR, which much needed PAS’ help to campaign, namely in the more rural areas. The issue was resolved after a high-level meeting involving leaders from both parties, and Dr Wan Azizah won the seat in early May.

But things went downhill for PR over the next two months. In June 2015, the PAS Ulama wing approved a motion to cut ties with DAP over its consistent objections against PAS’ Islamic Penal Code plans for Kelantan and criticisms against Hadi.

PAS’ powerful Shura Council made the decision official in July and the move killed PR, but the party maintained its political cooperation with PKR.

But that too came to its end two months ago when the Shura Council also consented for ties to be cut with PKR. – July 16, 2017.