KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang recalled yesterday the conditions for his party’s 70s partnership with Barisan Nasional (BN) that included the rejection of Western culture..
According to PAS mouthpiece Harakah, Hadi further said the previous partnership had not bound his party to the Alliance.
It had also given PAS free rein to teach Islam in government offices and public universities as well as to espouse the religion on radio and television, culminating in the azan (the Muslim call to prayer) being broadcast on both mediums.
“The cooperation also allowed activities deemed in conflict to Islam, such as dancing and alcohol consumption, to be ended,” he said when opening the PAS Rantau Panjang assembly yesterday.
PAS partnered with the Alliance Party in 1972 and even contested under BN colours in the 1974 general election.
However, it withdrew in 1977 following conflict with Umno over which should govern Kelantan.
Yesterday, Hadi asserted that the country’s political landscape deteriorated after his party left BN.
Acting Umno president Datuk Mohamad Hasan previously announced that his party and PAS were now “married”.
The two have cooperated with increasing intensity since the Seri Setia by-election, resulting in two successive election victories in Cameron Highlands and Semenyih.
The collaboration between Malay nationalist Umno and Islamist PAS are causing concern that it will plunge the country into more polarised communal politics as both pander to a primarily Malay-Muslim audience.
