See the ‘bigger picture’ of Muslim unity, says PAS veep

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PETALING JAYA: Muslim unity, and not political survival, is the reason PAS continues to defend its ties with Umno via Muafakat Nasional (MN), PAS vice-president Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar said.

He said PAS saw the “bigger picture” of Muslim unity and would continue to hold talks with Umno to ensure that their cooperation continues, Berita Harian reported.

The fate of the alliance, which came about in 2019, has been in doubt because of differences between Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and PAS leader Abdul Hadi Awang.

“We will continue to hold talks with Umno to ensure the cooperation continues even though some leaders consider MN dead and buried,” he said, according to the report.

Last month, Perlis Umno chief Azlan Man described the pact between the two largest Malay parties as “dead”.

MN was established in September 2019 as an electoral pact aimed at uniting the Malay-Muslim vote.

However, ties between the two parties have grown increasingly strained after PAS joined Bersatu to form Perikatan Nasional when Muhyiddin Yassin was the prime minister.

In February, an Umno leader admitted that MN was “merely a marriage of convenience”.

Hadi had rejected the pact in November, describing it as akin to being “shackled”.

Source: FMT