UTTER CONFUSION – AS UMNO & PAS JUMP FROM FROM ‘UNITY’ TO ‘FRIENDSHIP’ GOVT: BARELY A DAY AFTER HADI SAYS ‘UNITY GOVT’ WITH UMNO ‘PREMATURE’ – HIS RIGHT-HAND MAN TAKIYUDDIN DECLARES ‘NO MORE OPPOSITION IN T’ERENGANU, KELANTAN, PAHANG & PERLIS’

THE opposition has ceased to exist in Kelantan and Terengganu what with Umno and PAS now on the same page, said the Islamist party’s secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan.

He said while any proposal to implement a unity government in four opposition-led states may be a long way off, “friendship” governments will emerge in Kelantan and Terengganu soon.

He said while Umno may not be inducted into the state governments in these two states, they will be friends of the PAS administration.

“We (Umno-PAS) have four states; Umno has the majority in Pahang and Perlis; Pas in Terengganu and Kelantan.

“For now, there will be no opposition in these four states,”   he said.

In Kelantan’s legislative assembly, PAS and Umno have 44 out of 45 seats. Pakatan Harapan holds one.

In Terengganu, 23 out of 33 seats belong to PAS and 10 to Umno. PH has none.

Umno has the majority in Pahang with 24 seats out of 42. PAS has seven seats.

In Perlis, Umno has eight out of 15 seats and PAS two.

Takiyuddin said Umno will support the Kelantan and Terengganu governments, and PAS will support the Umno-led Perlis and Pahang governments.

On Saturday, acting Umno president Mohamad Hasan had said Umno would propose installing a unity government in Pahang, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu.

He had said this would serve as a platform to showcase that the Umno-PAS collaboration would work.

However, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had shot down the idea, calling it premature.

He said a lot of things had to be considered before a unity government could be formed.

Earlier today, opposition leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that forming the unity governments had yet to be decided on.

He said that since PAS and Umno formalised its alliance last week, there has not been any formal discussions on the proposals bandied about in the media in recent days, but that plans to discuss it were in the works.

“A joint working committee has been set up between Umno and PAS to look at the proposal and come up with the terms of reference,” he said.

“The committee will be given one-and-a-half months from March 5 to come out with proposals that will benefit both parties,” Ismail said after the opening of the first meeting of the second session of the 14th Parliament by the Agong today.

The newly appointed opposition chief said that the proposals will then be sent to the main committee of the alliance chaired by Mohamad and PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

He said the Umno and PAS grassroots will welcome the proposal as they, too, have been working together.

Ismail also said that a unity government would make it easier to govern the four states under opposition control.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT