Umno grassroots against PPBM joining Muafakat Nasional, says Tok Mat

Tok Mat says he has received a lot of feedback from the grassroots who are not comfortable with the idea of PPBM joining Muafakat Nasional.

PETALING JAYA: Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan today said the party’s grassroots are “not comfortable and do not agree” with the idea of PPBM joining Muafakat Nasional (MN), the pact forged between Umno and PAS.

Previously, PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin said his party wanted to join MN after being officially invited to do so and subsequently, Barisan Nasional secretary-general Annuar Musa said MN too had agreed in principle.

Speaking to FMT, Mohamad said though Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said it would be up to MN’s steering committee to decide on PPBM’s entry into the pact, the matter should be referred to Umno’s Supreme Council first.

“For Umno, we need to get the mandate from the Supreme Council. The Supreme Council is the highest decision making body in the party.

“It is no different to when we decided to form MN with PAS. The final decision was made by the Supreme Council.”

According to Mohamad, Umno must get the mandate from the Supreme Council because it represented the grassroots of the party.

“I have received a lot of feedback from the grassroots who are not comfortable with the idea (of PPBM joining MN) and do not agree with any such move.

“Many Umno members still remember the insults, disparaging and disrespectful remarks hurled at us (by PPBM leaders before GE14) and still feel hurt,” he said, adding the party had to listen to the grassroots.

“My presence here (as deputy president) is because of the grassroots, so their interests must be looked after.”

Muafakat Nasional is an alliance between Umno and PAS, the two largest Malay-Muslim parties, which was formally set up in September last year. Together with PPBM, they form the loose coalition of Perikatan Nasional (PN), which, with the support of Sarawak’s ruling GPS coalition, now runs the federal government.

Meanwhile, in a tweet, Zahid said the views of the Umno grassroots would be taken into account before any decision is made by MN on PPBM joining the pact.

“The Umno Supreme Council will decide on this,” he said. - FMT