PAS OR NOT, HUNGRY FOR POWER UMNO CAN NEVER CHANGE: DESPITE WARNINGS FROM ITS OWN MEMBERS, SAD TO SAY THE OVERALL SENTIMENT IS FOR ZAHID TO SEAL PACT WITH HADI

IN Umno divisions across the country, members want the leaders to explain the proposed cooperation with former arch rival PAS ahead of the party’s annual general meeting next month.

This is a recurrent subject with delegates as the party’s division meetings hit the halfway mark.

More than a year after Umno lost power, members of the lynchpin Barisan Nasional party are worried over how the new arrangement would affect the party.

Former Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin recently aired his reservations about working with the Islamist party.

Khairy reminded the party leadership and delegates at the Kota Melaka division meeting that it could not win power without non-Malay support.

“We must ensure that this agreement is not seen as a pact that will not take into account other races. We must think of what we can offer them to get back their support,” he said in his opening address.

“We can’t win if we solely depend on PAS-Umno cooperation. I have been sceptical about this cooperation from the start.”  

Umno and PAS will ink a charter on September 14 that will formally pave the way for a new Malay-Muslim nationalist opposition pact ahead of the 15th general election, the two parties said in a joint statement yesterday.

The charter will be signed by the two party presidents, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of Umno and Abdul Hadi Awang of PAS, in Dewan Merdeka in the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Many Umno members who spoke to The Malaysian Insight after the meetings said they’re still in the dark over the terms of the alliance but stated they’re willing to go along with it for the sake of the party and Malay-Muslim unity.

Many believed the two parties were merging to form a new party, although this was never discussed.

At the top of their minds, however, was how the electoral seat would be divided between the two partners.

“Like in Sepang, there is one parliamentary seat and three state seats. In the last three elections, these seats have been won by different parties.

“So they’re asking, which party will contest there?” said Sepang division chief Noorai Said.

Out of the 14 parties in BN before GE14 last year, only Umno, MCA and MIC remain.

Bagan Terap Umno chief Abdul Razam Mohd Ghazali said the Sabak Bernam delegates didn’t have qualms about Umno’s imminent union with PAS.

This could be because the division had long enjoyed a relationship with PAS, even before the orders came down for such ties to be established.

“Maybe because we have worked on it way before than the rest, we haven’t heard any objection (to the partnership with PAS).

“The representatives gave positive feedback and hope that with a formal cooperation, we can return to winning ways,” he said.

A delegate at the Kuala Selangor meeting warned it would be pointless to work with the Islamist party if Umno didn’t change its ways.

“People look upon Umno as a party that seeks position, wealth and exclusivity.

“We must strengthen not just party unity but also unity among us Muslims before thinking about how the arrangement will get us back to power,” said Mohamad Khairi Mohammed Shah.

– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com