Bersatu, PAS turn Muafakat narrative against Umno

 

Bersatu and PAS are turning the narrative of Muafakat Nasional against Umno.

This was after Umno decided it would not work with Bersatu in the next general election and pressured PAS to do the same.

Umno, particularly its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, had been urging PAS to uphold the Muafakat pact which the two parties formed together in September 2019.

However, PAS and Bersatu are now hitting back at Umno, implying it is the latter that has deviated from Muafakat.

The narrative focused on the fact that in August last year, both Umno and PAS had invited Bersatu to join Muafakat to which the latter agreed to.

However, this was Bersatu's one and only involvement with the pact.

"After we agreed, the ball was not in our court anymore," said Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan last night.

"I wonder what the status of that invitation is now," he added.

Separately, he told reporters yesterday that Bersatu was still open to being part of Muafakat.

On Friday, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man claimed that there was no reply on Bersatu accepting the invitation to join Muafakat because Umno was disappointed that the pact could not be registered formally.

It should be noted that when Muafakat announced plans to formalise the pact, it was signed by both Umno and PAS and made no mention of Bersatu.

PAS is a member of Bersatu's Perikatan Nasional coalition which has already been registered.

PAS insisted that all three Malay-Muslim parties should cooperate but has shown that it is more likely to ally with Bersatu if push comes to shove.

Zahid's opponents in Umno - who are in favour of retaining cooperation with Bersatu - are likely to pounce on the new narrative to pressure Umno to formalise Bersatu's membership in Muafakat. - Mkini