SEREMBAN, March 5 — Umno’s decision to cease cooperation with Bersatu in the 15th General Election (GE15) was not influenced by any party,  its deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said.

Instead, the party was only fulfilling grassroots members’ demands, he said.

"Umno is a mature party….we will no longer be with Bersatu during the election.

"This is not a decision made by one or two people but more than 100 divisions, so there is no issue that it was influenced by anyone,” he told reporters after chairing the Negri Sembilan Muafakat Nasional (MN) committee meeting here, today, with state PAS commissioner Rafiei Mustapha also present.

He was commenting on Barisan Nasional former secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa’s statement who claimed that Umno seemed to be under the influence of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Mohamad added that Umno remained with its stand to cooperate with PAS in strengthening MN.

Meanwhile, Rafiei said PAS holds firmly to the principles of strengthening MN and defending Perikatan Nasional, and would take a mediator position, thus strengthening cooperation among Malay Muslims.

"We will implement whatever decision made by the central PAS. In today’s meeting, we have agreed to form a task force to implement programmes with Umno at the state, division and branch level,” he said. — Bernama