KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — PAS President Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang said today the party has not given up on the possibility of working with Umno to revive the Muafakat Nasional (MN) alliance.
He confirmed that PAS remains open to discussions with Umno and is actively pursuing efforts to cooperate with Malay leaders and non-Muslims who are not extreme, in a New Straits Times report.
“Yes, yes... PAS is still open to cooperate with Umno,” Hadi told reporters at the party’s 70th annual muktamar in Temerloh, Pahang.
Speaking to the media, he noted that there were differences between Umno as a party and its individual members.
“Umno has its own ‘undang-undang tubuh’ (constitution) and some have ‘lari’ (strayed away) from the constitution, whereas some still remain strong to its policies,” he said.
"Umno and Pas had previously cooperated together when fighting for the country's independence, and we were together when placing Islam as the official religion," he said.
Hadi also mentioned that Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was not involved in the initial talks on forming the MN alliance, as he was on leave at the time.
“Initially, we had discussed uniting the Malay-Muslims with the Umno leadership, but it did not involve Zahid... several Umno leaders (were present). He (Zahid) was not involved,” he said.
Hadi acknowledged that while the cooperation led to the formation of the previous Perikatan Nasional government, it was not a strong alliance.
“Ini cerita dululah (this is an old story), but there has been some impact whereby some Umno leaders joined us and a small group remained with Pakatan Harapan,” he said.
During his policy speech earlier, Hadi reiterated PAS’s commitment to reviving the true spirit of Muafakat Nasional, with no intention of aligning with Pakatan Harapan.
This statement follows remarks by PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden on Sept 12, who said the party is open to cooperating with Umno under the spirit of Islamic unity if Umno decides to leave the unity government.
