Iskandar Abdul Samad said PAS had also fielded non-Muslims during elections.

R Kumutha was the party’s first non-Muslim candidate, fielded in the state seat of Tiram in 2008. She lost to Barisan Nasional’s Maulizan Bujang who retained the seat with a majority of 8,178.

A decade later, PAS fielded Satail Mojungkat for the Kadamain seat in Sabah, while Kong Tuck Wah was named as its candidate for Rawang that same year.

“If PAS were indeed a hardline party, there would be no non-Muslim wing, nor would non-Muslims be named as candidates,” Iskandar, the party’s treasurer, told FMT.

He also said that PAS would often engage with the non-Muslim community.

He was commenting on remarks by Marzuki Mohamad, a former aide to Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, who said on Sunday that Gerakan and the Malaysian Indian People’s Party (MIPP) were opposed to a PAS leader taking over as Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman after Muhyiddin’s resignation on Jan 1.

He said Gerakan and MIPP had agreed to Muhyiddin being named as the chairman of PN’s presidential council “as a way to balance PAS’s more hardline Islamic image”.

Iskandar said PAS had held interfaith dialogues and met with Christian leaders, describing this as proof of the party’s inclusive nature.

“If PAS was hardline, as claimed, we would not organise such dialogues.

“Such labels are nothing more than a political ploy to discourage non-Muslims from backing PAS and PN.”

Iskandar also said there was no need for non-Muslims to lose sleep if PAS and PN formed the next government, as the coalition would be fair to all.

He added that the opposition should be assessed according to its administration of Kelantan, Kedah, Terengganu and Perlis.

In Kedah, he said, PAS formed the state government but a non-Muslim assemblyman from Gerakan was appointed as an executive councillor.

“If PAS wasn’t fair, he would not have been appointed to the post,” he said, referring to Wong Chia Zhen, Kedah’s Chinese, Indian and Siamese community affairs chairman.

Meanwhile, PAS central committee member Dr Halimah Ali said the “hardline” label was often used by those who failed to understand the party’s agenda.

She said PAS was committed to championing issues related to education, the economy, welfare and justice.

“Only those who are afraid of PAS would paint us in a negative light, partly because they have been indoctrinated to oppose the party,” she added.