Zahid: Muafakat Nasional supposed to benefit members, not manipulated and used against Umno

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — Despite its best efforts to preserve the unity of the Muafakat Nasional (MN) charter it has with Islamist party PAS, Umno was left hanging alone during the recent Melaka polls, party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in a cryptic post on social media.

Ahmad Zahid in his Facebook post said the unity formed through MN was supposed to be beneficial for all signatories and never meant to bring about negative consequences to either party, neither was it made to be manipulated by those feeling vengeful against Umno.

Without mentioning any names, Ahmad Zahid said an “ulama” or religious scholar should instead be making decisions based on verified information and leads, and not by altering their principles and marketing their religion according to their political appetite and objectives.

“The consequences of failing to realise this is very bad for Umno, and in fact, the effects are far more dangerous to the people and the country.

“That is why Umno believes that the original MN was truly a consensus built on sincerity. MN is on similar tracks which are to seek repentance to unite and uphold the truth and oppose dictatorship.

“Umno had tried to uphold this consensus, including during the Melaka state elections, but Umno were left to clap with only one hand,” Ahmad Zahid wrote.

The party president asserted how PAS are constantly stating their support for MN, but rejected the invitation when they were approached by Umno to cooperate in Melaka and instead decided to work together with Perikatan Nasional and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM/Bersatu).

“PAS’ leadership then decided to make the decision and work together with PPBM who are known for wanting to take Umno down.

“Umno respects the decision and position of the PAS’ leadership to be together with Perikatan Nasional, because this is a democratic country. In fact, Umno never gave instructions to PAS about their political direction based on the spirit of the MN consensus agreed upon.

“But be aware that Umno has realised from the very beginning that it also belongs to a citizen consensus which is Barisan Nasional,” he wrote.

This comes after PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang claimed Umno had gone against their charter agreements when they opposed the inclusion of Bersatu into MN.

Abdul Hadi had on Saturday claimed that Umno did not follow the agreed charter, asserting that their agreement had included the probability of other Malay parties being included, along with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Ahmad Zahid in his statement added how Umno must be more intelligent in deciphering and differentiating between the sincere and honest consensus, and those cloaked around political lies.

“Civilised history has taught us the dangers of an enemy underneath the covers who will be slick in taking advantage of the naiveté to wreak havoc.

“Conjuring all kinds of new excuses to justify that Umno supposedly went against the consensus is political reasoning akin to those who alter their beliefs according to their political desires,” he said.

The MN charter was signed between Umno and PAS in September 2019, following the defeat of Barisan Nasional at the 14th General Elections the year before.

MN was formed to contest against Bersatu who were the other predominantly Malay party that was formerly with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, before the Sheraton Move which resulted in them defecting from PH to form and lead the PN coalition.