As far as PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang is concerned, the party's former rebel lawmaker Mahfuz Omar was someone who “died a long time ago”.

The veteran politician said this when commenting on the Pokok Sena MP's decision to quit PAS on New Year's eve.

“(He) is akin to someone who died a long time ago, but was just buried,” he said in a video posted on Facebook this morning.

Mahfuz, whose wife and children also quit PAS, has not revealed if he would remain an independent MP or join another party.

The vocal lawmaker, whose views often ran contrary to PAS' official stand, has been openly supportive of Pakatan Harapan and Amanah.

Due to this, Mahfuz had been labelled as “Harum Manis”, which is a type of mango that is green on the outside but orange inside. The two colours are that of PAS and Amanah respectively.

Amanah is a PAS splinter party formed in the wake of the collapse of Harapan's predecessor Pakatan Rakyat.

The coalition fell apart after DAP decided to cut ties with Hadi.

According to PAS, Amanah comprises those who have turned their backs on the Islamic struggle and joined hands with DAP.

However, Amanah claimed that PAS, under Hadi, has strayed from its original objectives.

The PAS president has also been accused of colluding with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to ensure Umno's victory in the coming general election.

Yesterday, Mahathir had accused Hadi of wanting to split opposition votes and called him a “traitor” following PAS' announcement that it would contest in 130 parliament seats in the polls.

In his video, Hadi said he forgives Mahathir.

PAS leaders have claimed that their cooperation with Umno concerns matters related to race and religion.