PETALING JAYA: Gerakan Youth has asked if it is true the party is prepared to leave Perikatan Nasional over the issue of vernacular school funding.

Its secretary-general Andy Tan also wanted to know if deputy president Oh Tong Keong's statement about leaving the coalition had received the blessing of the party leadership.

"Members are disappointed with Oh's statement and we need to know if the stand was endorsed by the party," he said in a Facebook post on Monday (July 29).

"We did not receive any indication that the threat made by Oh of leaving the coalition was the party's official stand, or if it was a personal opinion.

"Is there a personal agenda here, as Oh is deputy president and a member of Perikatan's supreme council?

"His statements carry weight," he wrote.

The spat between Gerakan and PAS erupted when Oh said last week the party would not hesitate to leave the coalition if it continued to take an extremist stand and infringe upon the rights of non-Muslims.

Both parties waded into controversy after PAS criticised a deputy minister for accepting a RM3mil mock cheque bearing a brewery company's logo at a fundraisimg event.

PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari said the party might not be able to work with Gerakan during the next general election if the party maintained its stand on the fundraising issue.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/07/30/is-gerakan-willing-to-leave-perikatan-over-school-funding-issue-youth-wing-asks