As Bersatu ties worsen, Zahid reiterates Haron Din's wish for PAS-Umno tie-up

 

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi sought to shore up his party's partnership with PAS tonight, as ties with Bersatu continue to deteriorate.

This includes reiterating a past claim that former PAS spiritual leader, the late Haron Din, had wanted the Islamist party to cooperate with Umno since 1998.

Taking to Facebook, Zahid said despite PAS being a component of the Bersatu-led Perikatan Nasional coalition, Umno's pact with PAS through Muafakat Nasional is still strong.

"The relationship between the two parties is still good even though there are all sorts of interpretations out there.

"The relationship between both parties continues, even though there may be some quarters feel uneasy and continue to find ways to drive us apart," he said.

Zahid then shared a conversation he had with Haron back in 1998.

"He expressed his desire to see Umno and PAS can share a relationship with one another even though they don't unite as a party one day.

"I myself take that desire as the dearly departed's will to me, when he passed away in 2016," he said.

Zahid had previously told this story when Umno and PAS signed the Muafakat charter in Sept 2019. 

The Umno president said this cooperation needed to continue as it had a positive impact, and hoped their relationship would grow closer.

Zahid's remarks came as tensions between Umno and Bersatu continue to worsen.

Most recently, Umno leaders have accused Bersatu of trying to get the former deregistered.

This was after a Bersatu supreme council member urged the Registrar of Societies to investigate an alleged unaudited secret account Umno had to receive political donations.

Zahid had also complained that he and three other Umno lawmakers have had their parliamentary allocation slashed from RM3.7 million per year to RM100,000.

Umno had also refused to give way to Bersatu in seat allocations and plans to reclaim seats won under an Umno ticket before the elected representative switched sides.

Umno is set to cut ties with Bersatu when the former can convene its general assembly. It had been postponed due to the movement control order.

PAS leaders have been non-committal as to who they will side with should an Umno-Bersatu break up be formalised.

However, the party has shown tendencies leaning more towards Bersatu after it joined PN.

This includes initially refusing to help in efforts to form a new Perak state government last December after Umno ousted the Bersatu menteri besar.

The matter was only resolved after Zahid apologised to both Bersatu and PAS over the incident. - Mkini