PAS denies issuing letter stating it is leaving Pakatan Rakyat

PAS today denied that it had issued an official letter purportedly stating that it has left Pakatan Rakyat.

Its vice president Salahuddin Ayub said the anonymous letter, which used PAS letterhead and was allegedly signed by secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali, was a dirty tactic used by certain parties to cause friction among the PR component parties.

“I want to stress that PAS, up till today, is still with Pakatan Rakyat. This stand has not changed.”

“I consider what is happening now, the spread of the letter in the cyber world, is an irresponsible act attempted to divide Pakatan Rakyat,” said Salahuddin.

Such tactics, he added, was common in the present political game and he does not think that such an act will weaken the party not PR itself.

The anonymous letter, dated August 1, 2014, claimed that an Emergency Meeting of the PAS Central Working Committee decided that the party would withdraw from PR, purportedly because DAP did not respect the other coalition parties.

The letter called for party members to respect the decision and stressed that PAS will not work with Barisan Nasional in championing the Islamic nation agenda and hudud implementation.

Salahuddin added that the letter was intentionally spread by certain parties following the distant relation between both parties cause by the Selangor Menteri Besar crisis.

“I think that it is important for those who wants to see the break, they will try to portray PAS as the cause of the split...I understand that game well.”

The distant relation among PR component parties was further intensified as a printscreen of a WhatsApp message written by PAS Central Committee Member Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki emerged,

suggesting that some PAS members had wanted out of PR.