KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — PAS leader Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan insisted he was correct in calling PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim a former convict despite the royal pardon granted to the latter.

According to the Malaysiakini news portal, the PAS secretary-general maintained his position when speaking to the press after attending an Umno event.

"I spoke based on facts and I ask those who want me to apologise to check the facts and the law, because this case has been decided by the courts,” he was quoted as saying

"Our country has clear laws about the position of those convicted by the courts, so they have to check this. I have checked, if not I wouldn’t have said it.”

Takiyuddin triggered controversy by questioning the public’s appetite for an ex-convict as the country’s prime minister; Anwar is presented as the next in line for the position once Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad steps down.

PKR and DAP have both criticised the PAS leader for the portrayal by pointing out that the royal pardon effectively erased Anwar’s conviction.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng added that Takiyuddin’s remark was disrespectful of Kelantan’s Sultan Muhammad V who was Yang di-Pertuan Agong when the latter granted the royal pardon.

The Agong at the time agreed to the royal pardon shortly after Pakatan Harapan won the 14th general election in May last year.

Anwar went on later to contest and win the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election.