KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should prioritise the interests of the ummah and work with Umno in the coming general election, its Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition partner PAS said.
Datuk Hashim Jasin, the PAS mursyidul am or spiritual adviser, cautioned the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president to be more careful when making public statements about Umno as the Malay nationalist party is not their enemy, Utusan Malaysia reported today.
“Muhyiddin is advised to think about the goal of the coalition, which is the unification of the ummah, and avoid making statements that could hinder efforts towards that unification,” Hashim was quoted as saying.
Muhyiddin was previously reported to have scoffed at PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan’s insistence that Bersatu should treat the Pakatan Harapan coalition as their political adversaries rather than the Umno-led coalition.
Backing Takiyuddin, Hashim said Bersatu must stop its attacks on Umno to prevent further rifts within the Malay Muslim community.
“I see [Muhyiddin] has to be careful and not be rude in issuing statements. We have to think about the goal of uniting the ummah that has been fought for all this time.
“I see that Umno and Bersatu have split but we will continue to try to unite the two parties for the sake of unifying the ummah,” Hashim was quoted as saying.
The PAS religious leader said Bersatu and Umno should forget their past differences and treat it as a test instead to be overcome for the greater good of their shared Malay Muslim community.
Muhyiddin reportedly told Bersatu members at their party’s sixth anniversary celebration in Putrajaya last Saturday that Umno is their enemy and that PN component parties must work as a team to win GE15.
Utusan Malaysia also reported another PAS politician Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi insisting that his party will defend its Muafakat Nasional (MN) alliance with Umno regardless of Muhyiddin’s calls for PN components to view it as the enemy.
The Malay daily reported independent Kuala Nerus MP Datuk Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali, a former PAS minister, claiming that PH is fearful the MN pact will succeed in GE15.
“The presence of MN scares PH and they have already envisioned at least 28 parliamentary seats that will slip back into the hands of either Umno or PAS through MN,” he was quoted saying.
But Mohd Khairuddin was also reported saying it would be hard for PAS and Umno, which have clashed head on since 1978, to set aside their entrenched differences.
“PAS and Umno members need to be careful with this divisive agenda,” he was quoted saying.
