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On February 4, PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat made an announcement on wanting PAS and UMNO to sit together to discuss religious issues. The Kelantan menteri besar said nothing could be achieved if PAS and UMNO continued with their animosity over politics.
Back in 2009, the idea of a Unity Government was raised by PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang at the party’s General Assembly to discuss Malay issues and Islam. Although UMNO was open to the idea, Nik Aziz strongly opposed it.
In spite of this, Nik Aziz has now decided to remind UMNO leaders to think about the importance of PAS and UMNO having a meeting to settle their differences.
Three days later, on February 8, PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang announced that PAS is ready for talks with UMNO on matters in which they could cooperate, including issues involving national security, economy, religion and politics. Though not a totally original idea, for back in 73 - 78 (during Asri Muda time) PAS was part of BN, the main issue now is that PAS is part of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition and, together with PKR and DAP, won big in the last General Election. With the success that came out of solidarity among their Opposition counterparts it is just not apposite for PAS to suddenly think of the idea of forming a Unity Government with UMNO. Call me naïve but it sounds like a total betrayal to their allies in Pakatan Rakyat.
While Pakatan Rakyat, after a strong showing at the last General Election, are carrying their plan to lure enough defections from BN to topple the government and form its own administration, UMNO, in response, are enticing PAS members to its side through appeals to the party's ethnic Malay constituencies.
Another thing is, a joint statement released by leaders of the multi-ethnic Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), the largely Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Islamic PAS would appear to slam the door shut on such overtures.
The council of leaders reaffirmed their “rejection of the idea of forming a unity government with UMNO/BN, which is clearly a malicious and desperate attempt to compromise the integrity of the increasingly popular Pakatan Rakyat.”
The Pakatan leaders, however, are leaving the door open for talks with BN on specific issues such as economic recovery, eradication of corruption and education. Until now, it was a great irony in Malaysian politics that the “unity talks” proposal between the PAS and UMNO - the two largest ethnic Malay-based parties in the country - had led to so much disunity and disagreement.
On the other side, UMNO has been playing hard to get. Prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who is also UMNO president made a statement saying that PAS has to make up its mind before offering to hold talks with UMNO on any issue. According to him, it is necessary as experience showed that PAS had been inconsistent in its stand.
“I don’t know what to say as his (Nik Aziz) stand changes like the weather. Sometimes he agrees, sometimes he disagrees and sometimes it is closed. So, I don’t know his real stand,” he said.
It is going to be very interesting to see how this issue is going to be handled since various other issues like the oil royalty dispute between the Federal and Kelantan governments are yet to be solved. It’s a mystery to a common man like me as to why after years of strong opposition it is PAS who is suggesting a Unity Government with the ruling UMNO. I guess the saying that “politics are dynamic” is always true even when it comes to one’s principal, and in this case, a political party. Related News
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