KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 — Islamist party PAS effectively invited Perikatan Nasional (PN) partner Gerakan to exit the coalition if it is unhappy, with vice president Datuk Amar Abdullah saying today there was nothing stopping the latter party from quitting.

According to Free Malaysia Today, Amar said membership in the PN coalition was not coercive.

“If Gerakan feels uncomfortable with PN, it is free to leave (the coalition) because this is a democratic country,” he was quoted as saying.

“If they leave, what can we do? We do not have the right to force them, and we can’t stop them either.”

PAS and Gerakan leaders have engaged in public spats after the latter’s president Dominic Lau spoke up in support of allowing vernacular schools obtain funding from sources that include alcohol and tobacco firms.

PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari responded by suggesting that his party and Gerakan were incompatible heading into the next general election.

Ahmad Fadhli’s Gerakan counterpart, Wendy Subramaniam, retorted by saying Gerakan would not be cowed into changing its position to suit its partner’s sensibilities.

The controversy emerged due to a recent charity event in a Sepang school attended by Sepang MP Aiman Athirah Sabu that featured a mock cheque bearing the logo of alcohol brand Tiger Beer.

The issue has divided political parties along racial lines.

Gerakan is a former component of Barisan Nasional that left the coalition after its 2018 general election defeat, and officially joined PN in 2021.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/07/29/doors-right-there-pas-tells-gerakan-over-vernacular-school-funding-squabble/145356