KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 — Amidst a renewed attempt to revive the unity talks between Umno and PAS, the conservative faction in the Islamist party has moved in to silence critics of the unity government proposal.
According to PAS insiders, party newspaper Harakah decided to remove a commentary written by central working committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad on the instructions of a senior party leader. The article was published in The Malaysian Insider on June 30.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the newspaper's pullout Fikrah, where the article was supposed to have been published, had to be reprinted on Tuesday.
The article was replaced with a full-page advertisement.
The article, which was critical of the unity government proposal, was to have been published in tomorrow's edition of the newspaper.
It was first published in Dzulkefly's blog on June 29.
The same article, which was published in Harakahdaily, the online version of the newspaper, was also removed from the website early this week.
A party source said Dzulkefly should have raised his arguments during a retreat planned for after the Manek Urai by-election.
“The gag order is still in place, Dr Dzul should know better not to publish his writing but to raise it during the retreat,” said a PAS insider, referring to the instruction issued to party leaders and members not to talk about the unity government publicly.
The retreat, announced by PAS information chief Idris Ahmad two weeks ago, would involve members of the central working committee and the religious scholars consultative council or the syura.
Dzulkefly, who was elected Kuala Selangor MP last year, has been very critical of the unity government proposal.
On June 19, he joined nine other PAS MPs in opposing unity talks with Umno and to declare their support for spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat who had earlier criticised party leaders who were in favour of such talks.
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