KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — The PAS and Gerakan argument over funding for vernacular schools is purely political theatre, Umno’s Datuk Puad Zarkashi claimed today.
The Umno supreme council member said the two Perikatan Nasional parties were playing off each another to appeal to their respective audiences, and not genuine in their public remarks over the matter.
“PAS knows that Gerakan is just making threats. It is a minor party, merely insignificant. It doesn't dare to leave PN,” he said on Facebook.
“There is nowhere else to beg.”
Yesterday, PAS vice-president Datuk Amar Abdullah said Gerakan was free to leave PN if it felt unhappy with its partners in the coalition.
The two parties have been arguing openly after Gerakan president Dominic Lau spoke up in support of allowing vernacular schools obtain funding from sources that include alcohol and tobacco firms.
The controversy emerged due to a recent charity event in a Sepang school attended by Sepang MP Aiman Athirah Sabu that featured a mock cheque bearing the logo of alcohol brand Tiger Beer.
The issue has divided political parties along racial lines.
Gerakan is a former component of Barisan Nasional that left the coalition after its 2018 general election defeat, and officially joined PN in 2021.
