PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has claimed that the party was once offered assistance by a foreign power to topple the government.
Hadi said the incident occurred during former US president Barack Obama’s visit to Malaysia in 2014, when several PAS leaders were invited to a meeting at the US embassy.
He said then PAS assistant secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan and Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, who was Hadi’s political secretary at the time, attended the meeting.
“I want to share this. When Obama came to Malaysia, we were still in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition with the other parties at the time, and we were invited to meet at the US embassy.
“They wanted to discuss it and were prepared to help topple the government and take over the government,” he said during his winding-up speech at the 72nd PAS muktamar at the Pusat Tarbiah Islamiah Kelantan here today.
PAS rejects alleged foreign offer
Hadi said the two PAS leaders were not swayed by the offer and remained firm in rejecting it.
He said the US ambassador later requested a separate meeting with him, which he attended with Mustafa Ali, who was then PAS secretary-general.
“Guess what the US ambassador asked me. He asked who PAS was proposing as prime minister.
“I said, ‘Who does America agree with?’ He was stunned. That was my answer. I told Mahathir Mohamad about it, and Mahathir said it was good,” he said.
Barisan Nasional was eventually ousted from Putrajaya at the 14th general election in 2018, with the campaign heavily shaped by the 1MDB scandal and allegations of corruption surrounding then prime minister Najib Razak.
Pakatan Harapan, led by Mahathir, won the election, and he was subsequently sworn in as prime minister.
Takiyuddin confirms embassy meeting
Separately, Takiyuddin confirmed that he had attended the meeting at the US embassy, saying PAS rejected foreign interference in the country’s politics.
“The embassy representative asked whether PAS was planning to topple the BN government at the time. We did not make any decision because we did not want interference from foreign countries.
“There can be no foreign interference. If other parties want foreign interference to topple the government, that is up to them. We do not, we do not,” he said.
