Declare Umno an Islamic party before forging pact, Dr M tells PAS

The 65th PAS Muktamar has passed a motion for the party to seal a political agreement with Umno. (Bernama pic)

BANGKOK: Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad said PAS must declare Umno as an Islamic party before forging a political cooperation pact with the opposition party.

In a cynical tone, Mahathir, who is also prime minister, said this was because PAS had previously declared Umno members as being infidels.

Thus, now, the party should declare Umno “Islamic”, he said.

“PAS once claimed that Umno is the infidel for cooperating with non-believers.

“If PAS forges cooperation with Umno, it will also be the infidel,” he told reporters after concluding his four-day working visit to Bangkok in conjunction with the 34th Asean Summit.

Yesterday, the 65th PAS Muktamar passed a motion for the party to seal a political agreement with Umno.

The motion was tabled by PAS Dewan Ulama Information chief Mohd Asri Mat Daud and received unanimous support from the delegates.

Asri, when tabling the motion, said PAS could not forge cooperation with Umno merely on the basis of “taawun” (cooperation for the benefit of Islam), but should take a step further through “tahaluf siyasi” (political cooperation).

The last time PAS forged political cooperation was with DAP in 2008, but this was severed in July 2015 due to an alleged breach of the conditions. - FMT