Umno veteran: Dissolve 'non-existent' Muafakat Nasional

 

A veteran Umno leader has suggested the party’s supreme council dissolves Muafakat Nasional (MN) and dismantles its charter, effectively ending Umno’s alliance with PAS.

Umno secretary-general Mustapha Yaakub said this is to avoid a prolonged polemic between the two parties.

“Both have made their decisions. Umno won’t be with Perikatan Nasional, while PAS has chosen PN and rejected MN.

“If the status of MN is left hanging, finger-pointings and accusations between the two parties will arise. Hence, it is better to make a final decision to dissolve it.

“End of story and closed book,” Mustapha (above) said in a statement today.

He added that MN is not a registered alliance, describing it as a failure and therefore no longer needed.

Complicated relationship

Mustapha believes Umno can respect PAS’s decision to stick with PN and in return, PAS should also respect Umno’s wish to stay out of PN.

“Umno shouldn’t have to work to take care of PAS’s heart, and PAS doesn’t need to think of Umno’s matters.

“Let each continue their fights based on each other’s goals and aims,” he said.

The Umno veteran, however, said the proposal to dissolve MN is not made out of spite, but rather to avoid further confusion among members of the two parties.

“It's not made out of anger or disappointment, but to avoid confusion and wrongful interpretation among members who still think the alliance exists when it no longer does,” he said.

UMNO president Zahid Hamidi and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, after inking the charter to set up Muafakat Nasional on Sept 14, 2019

The relationship between the two Malay majority parties has been a complicated one, as members of both parties have differing views on whether to cooperate with each other, due to differing ties with another party, Bersatu.

While all three parties belong to the same federal government, Umno has previously rejected cooperation with Bersatu, which many Umno members viewed with hostility due to Bersatu being its splinter party.

PAS, on the other hand, is keen on working with Bersatu, which angered Umno, causing a rift between them.

During the recent Malacca state assembly election, PAS decided to work with Bersatu, while Umno decided to stick with its BN coalition.

The election ended with BN winning a two-thirds majority, while PAS failed to gain a single seat and Bersatu seeing an encouraging result.

Earlier, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang also rejected the notion of continuing cooperating with Umno in the aftermath of the Malacca state election. - Mkini