KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — PAS can say whatever it wants during its muktamar, or annual congress, but any negotiations on seats for elections must be done with other Muafakat Nasional (MN) partners, Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said.
Speaking to Malay daily Utusan Malaysia, the politician also called Tok Mat, said sarcastically that Umno may as well dissolve its chapters and divisions in Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah if PAS wishes to exclusively hold to those three states rather than negotiating with its allies.
“It’s not fair if we just surrender the three states to PAS. If that’s the case then we might as well dissolve Umno in those states.
“Regarding this matter we may swap Umno seats in other areas with PAS seats on those states. Nevertheless, discussions have not reached that stage and we will do so in MN,” Mohamad was quoted saying in Utusan Malaysia.
“I understand that is what they have requested, and it’s not wrong. But in the end there will be a committee from each party that will negotiate and decide on it,” he added, referring to the seats.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang reportedly told party delegates during its muktamar recently that the Islamist party wish to “dominate” the seats in those three states.
PAS had kept Kelantan during the 14th general election and retook Terengganu. It later took Kedah earlier this year after the fall of Pakatan Harapan state government there following the federal takeover by Perikatan Nasional (PN).
However, Abdul Hadi said the party is negotiating with their allies in both PN and MN on the seats.
Mohamad said PAS aspirations would be taken into consideration during negotiations.
“That’s what PAS is hoping for but we have not sat at the negotiation table to talk about seat allocations.
“Umno headed by Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri have begun this negotiation process and Umno’s committee are looking closely at Umno’s seats.
“We will confer with BN first before opening negotiations with PAS,” said Mohamad.
