Umno and PAS accept Bersatu participation in Muafakat

Umno and PAS have agreed to accept Bersatu as a member in Muafakat Nasional, said its secretariat co-secretary-general Annuar Musa.

He said an official letter of agreement had been sent to Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin on Aug 13, before the official response to Bersatu's willingness to join the political pact, signed by Muhyiddin himself, was received on August 18.

Annuar said that Umno and PAS were committed to forming Muafakat upon realising that the political power of the Malays and Muslims was increasingly being split and weakened.

He added that the injection of Bersatu was the latest effort to strengthen Muafakat.

"The matter was discussed carefully and in-depth by the Muafakat steering committee co-chaired by the Umno deputy president and PAS deputy president on Aug 6 before the official letter was sent to Bersatu," he said on Facebook today.

Annuar, who is also the BN secretary-general, said that after receiving the letter of reply, the Umno political bureau convened to discuss the matter on Aug 23, which involved all state Umno liaison chairpersons and state BN chairpersons.

"Umno is very concerned and cares about efforts to unite the Malays and build the core strength of the Malay-Muslim group... it is an obligation and a priority which is fundamental to the struggle of Umno itself.

"On that basis, Umno had agreed that Muafakat accepts the participation of Bersatu and would like to see the participation, consolidation, and unity of the Malays grow stronger in line with the Muafakat charter which was recorded prior to this," he added.

- Bernama