JERANTUT — PAS is expected to amend its constitution at its ongoing muktamar (annual assembly) to allow non-Muslims to joint the Islamic party as associate members.
The party’s mursyidul am (spiritual leader) Datuk Hashim Jasin said the proposed amendments would be tabled at the assembly tomorrow to be debated and passed.
“The constitutional amendment involves several points…because non-Muslims have been asking to join the party as regular members, but the party only accepts Muslims as members.
“That’s why we have the DHPP (the PAS Non-Muslim Supporters Congress). We want to make amendments (to allow the non-Muslims to be associate members),” Bernama reported him saying at a press conference today.
Hashim has opened the meeting of the PAS Dewan Ulama today, which is part of the ongoing 70th assembly for the party held in Temerloh, Pahang, that will conclude on Sunday.
PAS, which currently controls the state governments in Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, has been seeking to expand its reach into non-Muslim communities.
Yesterday at its Youth wing’s annual assembly, Selangor Pas Youth Secretary Aubidullah Fahim proposed that the wing’s leaders marry non-Malay women from different races and cultures to gain more votes.
However, PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden later said that was a personal opinion and not a party decision.
Afnan Hamimi in his speech to Youth delegates had urged them to learn other languages so as to form better connection with non-Malays.
He said youth wing members should help the party gain non-Malay support by learning Mandarin and Tamil, and not leave the task of wooing votes from other races to the party structure which has limited resources.
“By mastering languages other than Bahasa Melayu, we can better communicate and connect with non-Malays,” Afnan Hamimi was reported saying. — September 13, 2024