KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — In a move worthy of the idiom "the pot calling the kettle black”, Islamist party PAS has accused the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition of being power hungry after the latter filed a motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

The Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition member that entered Putrajaya through backdoor political dealings issued a statement today accusing the federal Opposition of instigating a drama by calling for emergency sessions of Parliament when its true intention was to unseat Muhyiddin.

"On May 7, it was clear that its agenda was to bring a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin by stating that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has the majority support in Parliament.

"Additionally, the performance by the PN government in managing the Covid-19 crisis has been acknowledged by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and this has become the Opposition’s nightmare,” said the party’s communications chief Kamaruzaman Mohamad.

He also claimed that the motion of no-confidence is against Article 43 of the Federal Constitution, questioning the power of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to appoint the prime minister.

Kamaruzaman added that Opposition MPs should support the government in managing the Covid-10 pandemic by serving in their respective constituencies while not crossing any state borders.

This is one of the rare few times that PAS has issued a statement since coming into federal power for the first time in decades.

The public, especially those online, have raised questions asking why PAS has gone quiet when it comes to the Islamic agenda.

During a Facebook Live session with Opposition chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently, the PKR president when asked to comment on PAS’ apparent silence also agreed, observing that the party’s leaders had kept mum on matters pertaining to the opening of lottery outlets such as Sports Toto and the temporary permit to operate a beer factory during the early days of the movement control order (MCO) while schools and mosques remained closed.