PAS has refuted reports which cited its president Abdul Hadi Awang stating that only Malay-Muslims can join the cabinet.

Party information chief Nasrudin Hassan said what Hadi meant in his statement, which was issued on Dec 22, was that some cabinet positions must be reserved for Malay-Muslims.

Hadi's statement had read: "Islam meletakkan mestilah ketua negara dan anggota kabinetnya yang berakidah Islam daripada bangsa yang paling berpengaruh." (Islam requires the head of country and  cabinet members to be a Muslim from the most influential ethnic group).

According to Nasrudin, this meant Hadi's policy only applied to some ministries.

"It refers to the division of ministries through wizarah al-tafwidh (policy making) dan wizarah al-tanfidz (implementation).

"Here, Hadi's message clearly states that Islam is very open to non-Muslims for wizarah al-tanfidz ministries…unlike other political systems, which only accept those with the same ideology," he said.

Nasrudin stressed that not a single word or sentence uttered by Hadi showed that he was of the opinion that only Malay-Muslims should be in the cabinet.

"Instead, he was stressing the importance and need for Malay-Muslims to be the core of Malaysia's political system and administration," Nasrudin said in a statement today.

Hadi's statement has courted flak from both BN and Pakatan Harapan politicians, who accused the PAS president of treating non-Muslims as second-class citizens.