KUALA LUMPUR — PAS has a candidate ready to be appointed Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman, its secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.
The candidate is a “high-level” PAS leader and a Member of Parliament, he was quoted saying by Sinar Harian in Kota Bahru last night.
However, the final decision on who will lead the coalition will be made by the PN Supreme Council, as this is required under the PN constitution, he added.
Takiyuddin also refused to disclose the candidate’s identity, stressing that the PN supreme council had to deliberate it first.
As to when the meeting will be held, the Kota Bahru MP said it would be after February 19, during Ramadan.
Separately, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who resigned as PN chairman last month, causing the present leadership vacuum, had agreed to let PAS lead the opposition coalition.
He told Sinar Harian that Muhyiddin agreed to let PAS lead PN without conditions, adding that this agreement twas reached after several meetings between PAS leaders and the former prime minister
Tuan Ibrahim also said the party’s candidate to lead PN did not mean that the person would also be the coalition’s choice for prime minister in the 16th general election.
“The candidate cannot be considered to be the ‘poster boy’. Neither is he to be a replacement for PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang,” he said.
Bersatu and PAS have been at odds over changes to PN’s leadership structure following Muhyiddin’s resignation as PN chairman effective Jan 1 on the heels of political turmoil in Perlis when several assemblymen from both parties withdrew support for the state’s Menteri Besar Mohd Shukri Ramli.
Gerakan and the Malaysian Indian People’s Party, the non-Muslim components of PN, however, have reportedly disagreed in private with having a PAS leader to replace Muhyiddin as PN chairman. – February 6, 2026