Malays will forgive Najib if he unites Umno, PAS, says ex-minister

Datuk Seri Najib Razak should work towards uniting Umno and PAS to strengthen the Malays, says a former Umno minister. – The Malaysian Insider pic, September 21, 2015.

Malays will forgive Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his past mistakes if he manages to unite the country’s two biggest Malay-Muslim-based parties, Umno and PAS, former information minister Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin said yesterday.

In his latest blog post, Zainuddin said the Umno party president must step down after achieving this and allow deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to take over as prime minister.

“If Najib succeeds in uniting Umno and PAS, then I am confident the Malays will forgive his grave mistakes, but he needs to leave the government after fulfilling this large and sincere task and hand over the responsibility to his deputy, Muhyiddin, who has the experience and strong basic religious training to ensure good cooperation with PAS.

“The Malays will definitely remember his historic contribution towards uniting the Malays – something that past leaders never achieved,” said Zainuddin.

He said even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Najib’s most vocal critic in Umno, had been open to the idea of joining PAS if Barisan Nasional (BN) were to have lost the 1990 general election.

Zainuddin, an unapologetic supporter of the former prime minister, added that now was the time to strengthen Umno and take advantage of the opposition parties’ precarious state.

His proposal comes amid PAS’s cool response towards PKR’s attempts to consolidate the opposition parties into a formal pact.

While PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah has insisted that PAS, PKR, DAP and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) were all needed in the new bloc, PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang has reportedly said he would rather work with his opponents than Amanah.

PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli had told reporters that should PAS refuse to join the opposition, the “new Pakatan” and PAS could establish an “electoral cooperation” to prevent three-cornered fights in the next general election.

- TMI