KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 — Two Umno leaders have asserted that their party will continue to oppose any proposals by its political adversary-turned-forced ally DAP deemed contrary to the Malay community’s rights and "struggles” amid taunts from the Opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.

News portal Free Malaysia Today reported Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi saying today that any policy proposals that may be "sensitive” would likely be rejected by Umno, and that implementation of any policy would first require the Malay nationalist party’s agreement.

"DAP can propose anything, but that doesn’t imply that Umno will comply if it contradicts the party’s policies.

"Umno is confident that, irrespective of DAP’s stance on sensitive issues, it may not be implemented without Umno’s approval,” Puad, an Umno supreme council member, was quoted as saying.

Puad’s remark appears to be a push back against attempts by political rivals to depict the Barisan Nasional lynchpin as the weaker link in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s government, to the point Umno is making concessions about Malay interests.

The allegation, while old, cropped up again after DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang issued a statement about his hope that the country would one day be open to having a prime minister that is not a Malay.

Shortly after, Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai called for the reinstatement of local council elections during the Federal Territories DAP convention last weekend.

PN leaders, especially from Islamist component PAS, have latched onto these two DAP statements and claimed them as proof that the DAP harbours a secret desire to undermine Malay political power and install ethnic minority rule in Malaysia.

Yesterday, PAS youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden said Umno could go down in Malay history as "DAP’s pawn” if it did not put an end to the "antics” of its government partner.

Wan Agyl Wan Hasan, the permanent chairman of Umno Youth, responded by saying the DAP's proposals are merely the party's views.

"So far, none of DAP’s statements have been official government statements, so to conclude that all of them will be implemented would be unfair to the government,” he told Free Malaysia Today in response to PAS’ jibe.

"If the agenda of preserving Malay and Islamic interests is to be upheld, PAS is not exempt from rejecting amendments to acts and the Federal Constitution deemed unsuitable and encroaching upon the rights and sensitivities of Malays,” he added.