Why not quit sooner? PAS asks BN component party leaders

KOTA BARU: PAS has questioned Barisan Nasional (BN) component party leaders who have threatened to quit their ministerial posts over hudud when more pressing issues surfaced in the past.
"Our president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has succeeded in tabling the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) (Amendment) Bill 2016 in Dewan Rakyat, and will be debated in October, which is the first time in our history.
"We saw how various objections were made by the BN component parties leadership, MIC, MCA, Gerakan, threatening to resign. They should have resigned when issues like 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the burden faced by the rakyat surfaced," PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man told delegates during the 57th PAS Youth Muktamar opening speech, here, today.
"Where were they when the country was facing the issue of 1MDB, the RM2.6 billion controversy, and even the Goods and Services Tax (GST)?" he added.
Tuan Ibrahim stressed that these were issues that should have been of interest to the leaders, not restricting or banning what he deemed as "the right of the Muslims".
Later at a press conference, Tuan Ibrahim hoped that all Muslim MPs would support the bill when it is debated in parliament, and hoped that the non-Muslim MPs would be open to accepting it.
He also said PAS was ready to have a dialogue with any interested parties pertaining to the matter, adding that the few months they have now until October would be utilised to study the bill.
Meanwhile, PAS Youth chief Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz, during his keynote address, urged the party's leadership to review its parliamentary and state assembly seats allocation for the upcoming 14th General Election.
He said the party must learn from past experiences where its supposed allies had betrayed them for their own benefit.
"Let us learn from the past, where our loyal party members were 'used' by our 'friends', and then just left. If the leadership is courageous enough to contest in seats that were 'borrowed' to PKR and DAP in the previous GE, then we PAS youth is committed to make sure the party will win," he added.