Bersatu sec‑gen Azmin Ali says party remains legitimate Perikatan component despite PAS claim

PETALING JAYA, Aug 7 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) secretary-general Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali today hit back at PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang’s assertion that the party’s membership in Perikatan Nasional (PN) had automatically lapsed, describing the claim as unconstitutional.

In a statement, Azmin said no clause in the PN constitution allowed a member party’s membership to lapse on its own. He stressed that Bersatu’s position could only be decided by the PN presidential council under Clause 7A of the coalition’s constitution.

“To date, the presidential council has never met to determine Bersatu’s membership. Therefore, Bersatu remains a legitimate component party of Perikatan Nasional,” Azmin said.

He added that the PAS president had no veto power to decide Bersatu’s status, and his remarks reflected a lack of understanding of the coalition’s constitution.

Under Clause 7 of the PN constitution, each member party has full rights to attend, express views and vote in meetings of the supreme council, state liaison bodies and area liaison bodies.

Azmin also accused the coalition’s leadership of breaching its constitution by barring Bersatu representatives from attending the PN supreme council meeting on July 16, which decided seat allocations and cooperation with Barisan Nasional for the recent Negeri Sembilan state election.

He said Bersatu would lodge a formal complaint with the Registrar of Societies over what it described as a serious violation of the coalition’s constitution, adding that Perikatan, now dominated by PAS, had disregarded good governance principles and acted recklessly and undemocratically.