'Umno lasted 60 years but Harapan rapped after only six months'

Unlike Umno which had lasted 60 years as a ruling party before being voted out, Pakatan Harapan has courted public criticism after only six months in power, PAS vice-president Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said today.

As such, the Kelantan deputy menteri besar said he defended his prediction that the Pakatan Harapan government would be lucky if it managed to survive just one term in office based on the current situation whereby its component parties appear to be faced with various internal problems.

"I predict that they will be a one-term government because we can see they now have a lot of internal problems. PKR has two camps, Bersatu has its own internal problems and even within Harapan there are problems.

"This person said this, this party said that. Untuk (DAP stalwart) Lim Kit Siang and (PKR president) Anwar Ibrahim must issue statements to cool things down," Mohd Amar said in Kota Baru today.

"At least Umno lasted 60 years […] but Harapan only six months and the people are already saying this and that," he said in response to Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin's reported remark that PAS would forever remain as an opposition party.

Muhyiddin was responding to Mohd Amar's earlier prediction that Harapan would only last five years as government.

Commenting further, Mohd Amar said PAS would be better off remaining as an opposition rather than being a government of false promises.

"If we were to compare PAS with Bersatu, PAS is way better. PAS on its own can win 18 seats, while Bersatu in a coalition with Harapan could only win 11 seats.

"If they (Bersatu) did not cooperate with Harapan, they would never have been able to form the government. Even without a coalition, we (PAS) can capture two states and we have more Parliament seats," he said.

"So I would say we are better off being the opposition rather than being a government of false promises," said Mohd Amar at a press conference after launching the Kelantan Youth Centre's logo.

Earlier this week, several Harapan leaders had engaged in a public spat over various issues prompting Anwar to call for an immediate truce.

One of the internal battles being fought now is over whether de facto unity minister P Waythamoorthy should resign following the death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim.

There have also been arguments over Bersatu's friendliness towards Umno defectors who wish to join the party. - Mkini