PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said that PAS MPs and state representatives who join other parties must vacate the seats they won in the previous general election.
This is because, he said, they have pledged their allegiance when they accepted the offer to contest as representatives of the people, Mingguan Malaysia reported today.
Hadi also said that it depends on the honour of these leaders to vacate their seats as promised.
“Following the party constitution, their membership is voided automatically if they join another party.
“It is up to them because they know about the pledge that they made. Actually, they should vacate their seats if they have joined another party,” he said.
He was referring to the PAS leaders and members who are involved in the formation of a new Islamic party that is expected to be announced on Aug 31. The new party will reportedly be called Parti Amanah Rakyat.
However, Gerakan Harapan Rakyat secretary Dzulkefly Ahmad rejected Hadi’s reasoning, saying that the Federal Constitution does not force them to resign from their positions for the reasons stated.
“Conventionally, resigning from our positions is not common practice. The exception is the case of (former Selangor Menteri Besar) Khalid Ibrahim in both the positions he was holding,” he said in a statement today.
The aura of corruption hanging over the Malaysian political scene has been made even worse by the outburst of PAS leader Hadi, who is demanding that MPs who have left his party to found a new one must resign their seats.
As an elected Member himself he should know that the voters in the constituencies concerned chose their representatives to safeguard their interests, not those of Inche Hadi or any other politician.
The rules are clear, MPs owe their mandate to their voters and not their party and if they decide to abandon PAS they are answerable only to their voters on this matter.
In fact so-called ‘frog MPs’ have been a popular instrument of Hadi’s new best friends in UMNO over the years, who have frequently set about about buying power after being rejected by the electorate. UMNO took control in Sabah, for example, when MPs who had won their seats by standing against UMNO then mysteriously hopped over to join UMNO straight after UMNO lost the state election.
So, if in the face of the overwhelming mass of evidence against Najib Razak, Che Hadi continues to support him, he should not be surprised if fellow PAS members should choose to leave PAS and support a new party guided by the true and honest principles of their faith.
That he hinself does not follow their example proves that it he who is unworthy to head an Islamic party and should resign at once.