Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang at a ceramah in Marang on Saturday evening. Hadi has accused a few problematic PKR candidates of being ‘devils and troublemakers’.
Pas president accuses PKR of not vetting candidates
MARANG: PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has launched an attack on several PKR candidates, labelling them drug dealers and communist sympathisers as well as "devils and troublemakers".
He also lambasted PKR for its "relaxed" attitude in selecting candidates, which he believed could jeopardise the opposition pact.
The tirade was made just before PKR's announcement yesterday that it would be pulling out its candidates contesting in the same three Terengganu state seats vied by Pas.
Addressing a crowd of around 200 Pas supporters on Sunday at Kampung Tebakang, Bukit Payung, here, Hadi had attempted to explain why Pas and PKR had pitted their candidates against each other in the Kota Putera, Seberang Takir and Bukit Besi state seats.
He said Pas had no choice but to do so to save the opposition.
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"We don't want our government to collapse like in Perak, where we were in power for just a short while," he said, referring to the collapse of the state government after a few assemblymen crossed over to Barisan Nasional in 2009.
Hadi said PKR's apparent casual attitude in selecting its candidates meant that it did not undertake thorough background checks.
He cited a case in Johor where a PKR candidate allegedly only turned up on nomination day at the last minute.
"In Johor, we had overlapping of seats, simply because we waited for our friend (PKR's candidate) to show up. As time was running out and to prevent BN from winning uncontested, we had no choice but to nominate our candidate," he said, adding that the PKR candidate only showed up after Pas had nominated its representative.
Hadi also claimed that there were also reports of a PKR candidate being a drug dealer.
"There was information, I cannot say from where, of one of them being a methamphetamine dealer (tukang edar pil kuda). Pas cannot work with a candidate like this, even PKR's people cannot accept this."
He also claimed that some PKR candidates were under the influence of communist ideology.
"There are candidates who put up pictures of Lenin, Stalin. How do we (Pas) help these people? We collaborate with DAP and PKR; certainly not with the party of Lenin and Stalin."
He said their checks showed that some PKR election posts also bore pictures of Karl Marx.
"They put up Karl Marx posters at their markas (base); how do you ask Pas to work with them? Karl Marx is to followers of communism what the Prophet Muhammad is to Islam."
Hadi labelled the problematic candidates as "devils and troublemakers" and questioned their loyalty.
Terengganu PKR chairman Azan Ismail refuted Hadi's remarks, and insisted that its candidates underwent stringent checks.
"The candidates were thoroughly vetted at the state level and screened again by party headquarters," he said at a press conference yesterday.
He said this after announcing the pullout of the three PKR candidates from the Kota Putera, Seberang Takir and Bukit Besi state seats to give way to Pas.
He declined to comment on the accusations levelled by Hadi, but hinted that the pullout was because of pressure from Pas.
"Since a party president has made a strong statement on this, we hope our decision to pull out of the election in the three seats will resolve the matter."
