Former PAS leader Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali, who is now an Umno member, has praised his new party for advocating politics of peace despite being attacked with various accusations.
The former secretary of the PAS syura ulama council said Umno remained calm, especially during GE15 which saw the party end up as part of the new government.
“That’s the soft approach taken by Umno, which I think is in line with Islam,” he said, adding that everyone should practice moderation in politics.
GE15 saw the Umno-led BN coalition record its worst performance in history when it only won 30 out of the 222 Dewan Rakyat seats.
It appeared that Umno had lost the support of Malay voters when a majority of them, especially young voters, switched to Perikatan Nasional, consisting of Bersatu and PAS.
Defending the new cooperation between Pakatan Harapan and BN, which were once enemies, Khairuddin (above) said he sees it as a new political medium that the people want to see.
He also described the concept of a unity government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as strengthening unity and rejecting hostility.
“I used to say when I was in government that we were worried about the damage brought by DAP based on past experience.
“(But) after GE15, there is no single party that can form the government. So there was a need to ally with DAP.
“We cannot deny that DAP as a party is made up of Malaysians, Umno-BN and its allies are also parties for the rakyat. So the need to work together definitely exists,” he said in an interview recently with Malaysiakini.
Regarding the performance of the Anwar-led administration, which is less than two months old, the former plantation industries and commodities minister complimented the new government for prioritising justice for the rakyat regardless of race and religion.
However, he also reminded this administration not to repeat “old mistakes”, referring to the previous Harapan government led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“Old mistakes such as DAP being too quick to demand for what they are fighting for to the point of unsettling a huge part of Malaysian society, especially among the Malay-Muslims.
“We do not want any more clashes between races and religions, this is not good for the rakyat,” he said when asked to elaborate on what he meant by “old mistakes”.
PAS and Umno are among the parties that have historically been very vocal in attacking DAP. While PAS’ tone of criticism remains the same, Umno is seen to have taken a softer approach towards the party since becoming part of the same government.
This can be seen in Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan’s speech when he officiated the Umno wings’ conference in conjunction with the party’s general assembly recently, where he said attacking DAP does not make Umno appeal more to the Malays, among other things.
Mohamad also described DAP as “not being facetious and pretentious” in establishing cooperation.
After leaving PAS
Khairuddin left PAS in March last year, about a month after he was fired as the syura council secretary. His sacking was seen to be due to his leanings towards a PAS-Umno cooperation while the Islamist party was more interested in working with Bersatu.
In GE15, he contested to defend his seat in Kuala Nerus as a BN candidate but he lost to PAS’ Alias Razak.
Recalling his development after leaving PAS, he criticised certain party leaders who he claimed were behaving like they are trying to teach politicians from other parties to betray their own party.
“You divide (them), you conquer. This is how you divide and conquer… by pulling away a part of Umno to support PN (during GE15). This should not have happened.
“When I disagree with my party, I leave my party. We cannot criticise the mistakes of (your own) party. I only acted internally (at the time), people did not know… only the highest level (knew) and finally when I disagreed with the party leadership, I left the party.
“I criticised what I can criticise, not as a party member. If you are a party member, you should remain loyal to your party,” Khairuddin said.
Asked about his relationship with PAS leaders since joining Umno, he indicated that he was no longer given the same treatment.
This is normal in politics when someone joins a new party that was once their old party’s enemy, he added.
“Last time we said, if you jump parties to us (PAS), it is called hijrah, but if you jump from (PAS) to other parties, you will be called all sorts, traitor and so on,” he said.
Khairuddin was also asked about his relationship with PAS’ splinter party Amanah, as the two parties have often been at loggerheads since they split in 2015.
He explained that the differences are only a matter of opinion and not related to personal relationships as they can still maintain their friendships as usual.
“Just like me leaving the party now, I hope that is how everyone behaves.
“So when Umno is now working with Amanah, PKR, it is actually a normal thing for open-minded politicians.
“But for those with their own personal agenda, meeting and fighting on a personal level, that is difficult for them,” he said. - Mkini
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