Zahid rues decline of Muafakat - saying it went from sincere to dishonest

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that the original Muafakat Nasional between Umno and PAS was done in a sincere fashion, but that gave way to something dishonest.

The Bagan Datuk MP cited as a turning point - the widened cooperation with Bersatu, a party that he says is bent on Umno's destruction.

He added that there were parties who created various excuses in trying to justify that it was Umno that did not comply with the charter.

"A person with the title of ulama should follow the authentic text, not manipulate the law according to political tastes to use religion to achieve political objectives.

"The result of failing to do so is very bad for Umno and far more dangerous to the people and the country," he said.

On Dec 4, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang claimed that Umno had violated the charter agreed by both parties previously. Due to that, he said PAS rejected the idea of MN that Umno wanted.

In general, PAS has called for Bersatu - which emerged as a splinter of Umno - to be brought in to join MN. However, Umno has finalised the decision through its annual general assembly earlier this year so that no cooperation is formed with Bersatu.

At the same time, PAS is part of the National Alliance (PN) component backed by Bersatu.

Zahid said Umno had tried to maintain the Muafakat including in the recent Malacca State Election but was rejected.

"We believe that the original MN was truly a consensus built on sincerity. On the same path of struggle, namely repentance to unite to uphold the truth and oppose tyranny.

Zahid added that PAS leaders often stated that they supported MN, but what happened in Malacca was that they rejected Umno's invitation to unite on behalf of MN.

Instead, he said the PAS leader decided to join forces with Bersatu which was known to be set up to bring down Umno.

Even so, Zahid added, Umno still respects the stand and right of PAS leaders to remain with PN because the country practices democracy.

"Let the facts speak," he said.

The three-way war of words between Umno, PAS and Bersatu are ongoing after Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan called Hadi 'misguided.'

Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan then pointed out that it was Mohamad himself who chaired the Aug 2020 meeting in which Umno agreed to invite Bersatu to join Muafakat.

“How can Mohamad say Umno is being forced to accept Bersatu and that accepting Bersatu goes against the spirit of the Muafakat pact?

“Wasn’t it the (Umno) deputy president who chaired the meeting that decided to invite Bersatu and it was the president who signed the invitation letter and announced it to the whole country?” asked Wan Saiful. - Mkini