KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 – PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang today dismissed any allegation of vote buying in the party, which is scheduled to hold its biannual election next month.
Hadi’s denial comes just one day after PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat said yesterday that he did not discount the possibility of vote buying in PAS.
In a statement issued after chairing the party’s management committee meeting here, Hadi said he was briefed by the ulama chief Datuk Mohamed Daud Iraqi, party election director Datuk Mustafa Ali and other senior leaders and found that vote buying does not exist in the party.
“We have been successful in educating our members from the top to the grassroots,” said Hadi.
“Any attempt to defeat PAS through dirty tactics has failed and we are confident that PAS will not be tarnished by vote-buying practices,” he added in a three paragraph statement.
The allegation of vote buying was first made by ulama chief Daud last week, and the issue has dominated discussions on the party election with several PAS leaders denying the existence of such practices in the Islamist party.
The party’s management committee then decided to call on Daud to provide more details on the allegation.
Meanwhile, Mustafa told reporters after the meeting that he had informed Hadi that the party’s election committee had yet to receive any report on vote buying.
“Nobody came to me to report on anything, the committee will act if there is strong evidence,” said Mustafa.
He also said that the committee could not act based on allegations made in blogs as they were not supported by evidence.
“Anyone can report to me but it must be backed by evidence, without evidence I will throw them out,” said Mustafa – MalaysianInsider
