PAS-DAP row hits a new low

KUALA LUMPUR - The public squabble between PAS and DAP over the local council elections in Penang has reached boiling point.

Yesterday, PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali challenged Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to a debate, while accusing him of spewing “half-truths”.

Mustafa said PAS was not consulted on the matter before it was tabled in the state assembly in May 2012, although Lim claimed to the contrary.

“It was wrong of him to say that we agreed. This goes to show that he is celupar (a loose cannon),” he told reporters at the PAS headquarters here.

Lim is reported to have said that he had called both PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and Mustafa before Penang pushed for the local council elections.

He also claimed that PAS was agreeable to the proposal as it did not object to it openly.

Denying this, Mustafa said PAS was only consulted after the enactment was tabled via a phone call from Lim.

“He then asked me to give positive comments to the press because he said DAP had been pressured by non-governmental organisations to fulfil their election promises by pushing for the elections.

“All I said was, ‘God willing’. But this did not mean that PAS supported their proposal,” he said.

Mustafa said it was not fair for Lim to have labelled him dishonest, and warned him to be mindful of his words.

Unlike DAP, he said PAS had consulted DAP on the proposed implementation of hudud in Kelantan before the party joined a special committee set up by the Federal Government to study the implementation of the Islamic criminal law.

“Is it fair then for me to say that Lim or DAP had agreed to hudud because they had no problem with us joining the committee? Of course not,” he said.

Mustafa said it would be better to face Lim in an open debate.

“Let’s determine who is telling the truth, who isn’t. As for me, I am responsible for my statement,” he said.

Mustafa, however, dismissed suggestions that the squabble might result in PAS leaving Pakatan Rakyat.

He also ruled out the possibility of the party leaving the coalition if PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim were to be imprisoned for sodomy.

“That’s not a reason for us to leave the pact,” he said.

“We will be more resilient, and we will continue with the struggle.”