Saifuddin: PAS wants 'the best of both' by supporting Dr M and Umno

PAS has revealed itself to be a self-contradictory party after its latest political antics on supporting Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said.

“It wants to work with the opposition BN, which is trying to topple the ruling Pakatan Harapan government, and it also wants to support Mahathir, who is the head of that government.

“We find this strange. PAS wants to work with Umno, but at the same time, it supports Mahathir.

“PAS calls this type of politics ‘matang dan sejahtera’ (mature and harmonious). But we call it wiper politics,” Saifuddin said in an interview with The Malaysian Insight as he waved his forearm up and down like a windscreen wiper.

This shows that PAS is trying to benefit from both sides, he said.

Saifuddin, who is domestic trade and consumer affairs minister, also dismissed allegations that there was a plot in Harapan to oust Mahathir.

He said Mahathir’s position as prime minister was agreed upon by all Harapan component parties before the 14th general election.

“Pakatan Harapan meets once every three weeks. The last meeting was before Chinese New Year and the atmosphere was very conducive. We talked about government and party policies,” he said.

Mahathir had said last Saturday that PAS had told him it would not back Umno in Semenyih and would support him instead.

However, while PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan admitted there was such a pledge, he said this was in case of a no-confidence vote against Mahathir.

Claiming that there was an internal plot within Harapan to get rid of Mahathir, PAS said the party supports Mahathir in the name of “maintaining Malay-Muslim power”.

Takiyuddin added that the support does not extend to Semenyih, for PAS would still work with BN in that by-election, which will be held on March 2.