Johor Umno deputy chief Nur Jazlan Mohamed indicated that his party’s relationship with PAS was a foregone conclusion after PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang made the decision to join Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Nur Jazlan (above) said he could not understand PAS’ hot and cold attitude and that it had even caused confusion within the Islamist party's own grassroots.
“The members at the grassroots are also tired of Hadi and his konco-konco’s (cronies) attitude.
“In fact, PAS grassroots members still want to be with Umno but after they look at how their leaders are - where one moment they want cooperation and another moment they don’t - they feel disappointed.
“I hear from PAS members complaining that their leaders are driving Toyota Vellfires here and there but at the grassroots level they are asked for donations collected in Milo tins,” he said in an interview.
Jazlan also panned what he described as flip-flopping by people who call themselves religious leaders.
“I am puzzled by how these ‘orang agama’ (religious people) flip-flop.
“First they say the relationship is broken, then they say it is not broken yet, but they still want to be with PN, not Umno. I don’t get it,” said the former Umno supreme council member and three-term Pulai MP.
‘PAS already divorced Umno’
On Jan 28, Hadi described Umno as a “lame duck”, triggering a war of words between the two parties and deepening their rift.
However, PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin on Feb 23 urged leaders from both parties to observe a ceasefire during the ongoing Johor polls, stressing that they should think of the long-term interest of Muslims.
Since then, Perak Menteri Besar Saarani Mohamad said the Umno supreme council could decide whether to bring the issue of “divorcing” PAS to the Umno general assembly in the middle of March.
However, Jazlan didn’t see a need for such a move, stating that PAS had already divorced Umno.
“Didn’t PAS divorce us first? When Hadi said they chose Bersatu, the Muafakat Nasional pact is no more,” he said.
“When we (Muslims) get married, it must be in front of a qadi, there must be a wali, but when we divorce, we only need to make a pronouncement.
“To divorce, we only need the pronouncement of one, two or three talaq. The problem with Hadi is that I don’t know whether he pronounced one, two or three talaq,” he said.
In a Muslim marriage, a pronouncement of three talaq indicates there is no more room for reconciliation.
After the fiasco, Jazlan said Umno members have ultimately rejected cooperation with PAS.
‘GE15 before Umno election’
Jazlan believes that the 15th general election (GE15) should take priority above Umno polls, putting the people's interest above the party.
“The party election is important but not as important as the country’s future.
“The people’s future is more important than the future of the party’s leadership,” he said.
Opponents have accused Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his allies, who are facing graft cases, of pushing for an early general election so they can consolidate their position before going into the party polls.
Jazlan said there was no guarantee that the upcoming Umno election would bring about a change to its leadership.
“It is better for us to call for GE15 first. Leave it to the voters to decide. These are our leaders, and if they agree, vote for us,” he added.
On Monday, Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan again called on Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is also the party vice-president, to consider calling GE15 as soon as possible.
GE15 is not due until the middle of 2023. - Mkini
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