GE or not, Pas will go ahead with party polls

TEMERLOH - PAS will not be following the move by DAP and Umno to postpone their respective party polls in order to prepare for the impending general election next year. PAS vice president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said that the party's Muktamar (annual general assembly) would go ahead as scheduled next year. “We have reached the consensus in the last Central Committee Meeting last Sunday, in which several issues were discussed,” said Tuan Ibrahim, who is also the party's state chief in Pahang, according to Harakahdaily. He said party divisions would hold their annual meetings in January while the general assembly would be held in June. Earlier, DAP announced it was postponing its party polls to 2012, while Umno said its elections would be delayed, in what many believed was the clearest sign of a looming election PAS however said that far from possibly distracting its members, the party polls would act as a catalyst to boost members' fighting spirit ahead of any general election. “We feel it will not bring any major problem to the party. "The muktamar in all divisions across the states and national level will be a catalyst to build up the fighting spirit for the coming 13th general election," he said, adding however that a slight delay was unavoidable in order to focus on election works. Tuan Ibrahim also said PAS members and leaders had been consistently told that their fight was for Islam and not for positions in the party. “Let us make this muktamar as a platform to strengthen the party and the relationship among members, to be sincere in our struggle and bring ourselves closer to Allah in any situation,” he advised. - Harakahdaily