Any PAS backing for Bersatu was personal, says Tuan Ibrahim

PETALING JAYA: PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has played down claims that the party’s election machinery discreetly campaigned for Bersatu candidates ahead of the July 11 election in Johor, describing it as a “personal matter”.

He said if any PAS members were helping Bersatu candidates, they were doing so based on personal relationships, not as representatives of the Islamic party.

“We regard that as a personal matter. Such things happen in all political parties.

“However, the party’s directive to its machinery is clear: each should work in the constituencies contested by their own party (and other Perikatan Nasional (PN) component members),” he was quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia.

Asked whether helping candidates from other component parties was a breach of the top leadership’s directive, Tuan Ibrahim said PAS had issued clear instructions.

“The party’s directive is clear. As for individuals who wish to help another component party, that is their personal right,” he said.

Bersatu co-founder Redzuan Yusof said yesterday that he had personally observed cooperation between both parties at the grassroots level during the first week of campaigning.

He also said that PAS’s rank and file were puzzled by their party leadership’s decision not to help Bersatu despite the oft-repeated call to “unite the ummah”.

Redzuan added that Bersatu had been helping PAS’s 11 candidates in their election campaign.

PAS ended its political cooperation with Bersatu last month, although both parties remain PN components and are contesting the Johor election under the coalition’s banner.

PAS recently ordered its election machinery not to campaign for Bersatu in the Johor election, instructing it to focus instead on seats contested by the Islamic party and other PN components.