PAS returns to the era of 'Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah' - analyst

PAS would be in a similar situation where Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (Muslims unity movement) once was around 1990-1996 when the movement was active, said Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) political analyst, associate professor Dr. Fuad Othman.

Dr.Fuad classified the current occurences in the opposition pact as the coalition’s strategy.

“I think PAS in the opposition coalition will be similar to the Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah model devised before where it will form alliances with the coalition at certain places while would be non-allies at other places," he said when contacted by Astro AWANI.

Citing the East Coast as example, he said PAS feels it has strong support there and will move on its own.

Dr. Fuad said this clearly shows how PAS is struggling to regain grassroots support and is still relying on PKR’s strength and at the same time disregarding DAP and Amanah.

"This shows that PAS cannot completely withdraw their position from the coalition even though it is not aligned with both DAP and Amanah who are within Pakatan Harapan.

“What PAS has to do is to look back and re-strengthen grassroots support . That's why they want to carry out Himpunan Hijau 60,000," he added .

Dr. Fuad questioned the significance of the Dewan Himpunan Penyokong PAS (DHPP) to gain the support of non-Malay voters for the party when Pas is still relying on PKR.

On Tuesday, PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan denied claims that the decision to proceed with political cooperation with PKR was to gain support from non-Muslims.

He instead stressed Pas does not require PKR for this purpose , because the DHPP is already led by non-Muslims .