Gerakan Youth has accused a PAS leader of “crossing the line” for attacking Gerakan president Dominic Lau, and warned that such disrespect would be detrimental to Perikatan Nasional.
The youth wing’s secretary-general, Andy Tan, said the comments by Penang PAS ulama election committee head Shafirul Rozani were destructive and slanderous.
“Anyone who disrespects Gerakan’s leadership will not be treated with courtesy. Every party has its limits, and Shafirul has crossed the line,” Tan said in a statement.
Shafirul had taken Lau to task for his alleged failure to lead the PN chapter in Penang, according to a Malaysiakini report.
In his speech at the PAS muktamar, Shafirul compared the opposition in the state to a Ferrari that could not be driven anywhere as the “steering wheel is in the hands of another person”.
“If the chairperson does not know how to drive a car despite it being a new car, perhaps it’s better for us to change the chairperson,” he was quoted as saying.
Tan reminded Shafirul that Lau was picked by the opposition’s top leadership and that the wing could not accept such back-stabbing.
“If you deliberately undermine PN’s unity, you are not only betraying coalition partners but also destroying our shared ambition of reaching Putrajaya.”
Tensions between PAS and Gerakan have arisen before in 2023 when Lau’s nomination for a state assembly seat in Penang gave rise to protests by several state PAS leaders.
Lau, who is a PN deputy chairman, was also told by a PAS leader to leave a ceramah, after he showed up uninvited.
Top Gerakan and PAS leaders have also locked horns over a range of issues in the past two years, including the involvement of breweries in raising funds for Chinese-medium schools.
