KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today said his party will defend the Muafakat Nasional (MN) charter it signed with PAS even after the Islamist party announced its plans to stick with Bersatu in the next general election.

Reflecting on Umno’s cooperation with PAS, the Bagan Datuk MP said the two parties need to learn from their past failures.

"Given that Muafakat Nasional involves other political partners, then it is not appropriate for me to write more than what I stated at the PWTC the other day.

"The only thing I can touch openly a bit here is that Umno is serious in strengthening Muafakat Nasional established in 2019.

"Learn from the story of Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah and Semangat 46, which all failed because the political coalition was formed dishonestly,” he said on his Facebook page.

Commenting on the by-election wins since MN was formed, Zahid claimed that voters responded positively to what the alliance offered.

"They believe in Muafakat Nasional, not this one. Because of the synergy formed between Umno and its party partners in a sincere and sincere coalition.

"Therefore, I hope that Umno's political partners in Muafakat Nasional think clearly about the importance of defending the original idea of ​​Muafakat Nasional,” he added.

At its 75th annual general assembly last Sunday, Umno formally announced its dissociation from Bersatu, which controls the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

In choosing to run the 15th general election on its own steam under the Barisan Nasional coalition, many political observers saw the Umno president as casting aside PAS as well, even though Zahid added that his party is open to form partnerships after the polls.

Yesterday, Bersatu and PAS announced that they will maintain their political cooperation as component parties of PN.