KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today called for a "political ceasefire” and ordered his party members in Cabinet to focus on helping the public face the economic woes wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zahid also said Umno will support the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government in its agenda to aid the public.

"I want to emphasise some of Umno’s standings as following: Conducting a political ceasefire to ensure that the agenda of addressing Covid-19 and helping the people who are suffering from hardship and anxiety due to economic obstacles can be addressed and prioritised.

"We will also support the Perikatan Nasional government in focusing on the agenda of helping the people and facing the Covid-19 pandemic and economic downturn,” he said in a statement.

Zahid said that cooperation among all the parties in the PN government must be strengthened to ensure political stability.

Yesterday, Umno and PAS released a statement saying they will officially register as a political coalition with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) under the name Muafakat Nasional (MN).

They did not include Bersatu — the party of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin — whom they had also been in talks with to join MN. Instead, all three parties currently have a loose partnership under the PN coalition led by Muhyiddin.

Just last week, Umno issued a statement saying it was reconsidering its support for PN with several Umno leaders openly admitting that tensions are high between them and Bersatu, citing reasons such as the undermining of Umno’s position in the coalition.