PAS’s Meru rep claims asked to cede seat by Umno...

PAS’s Meru assemblyman, Dr Abd Rani Osman, has accused Umno representatives of attempting to persuade him not to defend his seat in the upcoming general election.

The newly appointed Selangor PAS commissioner said, however, that the two men who claimed to represent the Malay ruling party did not ask him to leave the Islamist party for Umno.

“They didn’t ask me to join Umno, but they just asked me not to contest in the coming general election... I don’t know why,” Dr Abd Rani told The Malaysian Insider in an exclusive interview yesterday.

The Malaysian Insider understands that Dr Abd Rani was offered money to accept their request.

“I told them that my values are based on the Quran and I showed them the Quran,” said Dr Abd Rani.

“They wept and left my office... I didn’t see them again after that... I don’t even remember their names,” claimed the doctor by training who joined PAS in the late 90s.

The first-term assemblyman replaced Datuk Dr Hasan Ali as the Selangor PAS chief last week. Dr Abd Rani, who is usually seen wearing his songkok in a different style from other PAS members, claimed he was approached by the two men early this year when he returned from a trip abroad.

He wrested the Meru state seat from Umno’s Md Ghazali Amin with a 5,513-vote majority during Election 2008. The doctor also stressed that the thorny issue of unity talks with Umno no longer arose after the party took a strong stand against it.

“The question of a UG (unity government) shouldn’t be talked about anymore... we will remain in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and face the general election together with Pakatan Rakyat,” he said.

The question of political co-operation with Umno became a major campaign issue in the 2009 PAS election after it was revealed that its leaders, including then PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa and Hasan, met former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and former Selangor mentri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo after Election 2008 to explore the possibility of forming a unity government.

Leaders aligned to Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat then accused Nasharudin of conspiring to take PAS out of PR. Nasharudin lost his deputy presidency to Mohamad Sabu in the recent PAS election, while the professional faction also swept the top leadership and more than two-thirds of the central working committee.

Dr Abd Rani expressed confidence that his party would double its share of state assembly seats in the country’s wealthiest state by co-operating with PKR and DAP.

“Insya-Allah, we are confident we can double our seats till 15 seats from the current eight that we have,” said the Kapar PAS division chief.

PR currently has tenuous control over the country’s richest state and holds 36 seats in the 56-seat state assembly and 17 out of 22 parliamentary seats.

source:malaysian insider

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