At a joint press conference with PAS’ top leaders today, Umno acting president Mohamad Hassan said the decision to work with the Islamist party was made after taking into account the direction of both parties and the current political scenario.
“We are cooperating to unite the Malays and ummah (community) without sidelining other religions or races.”
Mohamad described the cooperation between the two parties as a “marriage”, which began with Umno sending a “ring” to PAS during the Sungai Kandis by-election before they got “engaged” during the Seri Setia by-election.
Now, after a two-hour meeting at Umno’s headquarters at the Putra World Trade Centre, Mohamad said the two parties were now “married”.
PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the party and Umno would continue to find common ground for the sake of their pact.
“We respect each other’s party policies. We will continue to find common ground, especially in the area of uniting the ummah.”
Umno, PAS have common enemies
Mohamad also said Umno and PAS would work together as an united opposition bloc in Parliament to ensure checks and balances.
He also stressed that Umno will not fight with PAS and instead focus on its role as the opposition to the Pakatan Harapan-led federal government.
“We do not have time to fight one another, we have the same enemy. Umno and PAS are friends, PH is the government we are focusing on now.
“What is important is that we do not want the people to be divided. We want to practise mature politics and work together.”
Mohamad added that a technical committee will be set up to discuss details of the cooperation and this committee would be headed by Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin and his PAS counterpart, Idris Ahmad.
“The outcome of the discussions will be brought to our respective coalitions. Umno will take it to a BN meeting while PAS will bring it to the Gagasan Sejahtera coalition.
“We are not sidelining our coalition partners,” he said, adding this was why there was no symbol as it was not the unification of two parties but mere cooperation between Umno and PAS.
Tuan Ibrahim also said PAS will not sideline other races and religions as the cooperation with Umno was not just for the Malays.
“We have a PAS Supporters Club which includes Chinese, Indians, Sabahans and Sarawakians.
“So we are actually very open. We are not just focused on Malays but the ummah, which includes all Malaysians.”