ALOR SETAR, Sept 3 — Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's negative remark about Muafakat Nasional (MN) is not representative of what the Umno grassroots want, PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang asserted today.
The Marang MP insisted that the grassroots members of both his Islamist party and Umno were still holding talks on how they could co-operate for the 15th general election.
“Our agenda is the unity of the ummah. Ummah is all, including Malay Bumiputera or non-Bumiputera, we accept that they are part of us. That is why PAS accepts both MN and PN,” he told reporters after opening the 68th annual congress here.
“I hope that is just a statement from the Umno president, not Umno members. Not from Umno grassroots,” he added.
PN refers to the Perikatan Nasional coalition, of which PAS is a component.
MN is a non-coalition political pact PAS signed with Umno after Election 2018 to oust the elected Pakatan Harapan coalition from power, which they eventually happened in early 2020.
Yesterday, Zahid dismissed his party’s partnership with PAS under MN, saying that it was based on trust, which was lost when PAS chose to join Bersatu and form PN.
“How can stability, confidence and strong cooperation be achieved if the most basic things like principles and trust are ignored? Even more with a party that clearly wants to destroy Umno from within and without,” Zahid wrote on Facebook.
