Is Umno giving up on non-Malay vote with shariah move?

[superadmin]

PETALING JAYA: A political analyst sees Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s promise to strengthen shariah laws as an indication that he does not care if his party loses non-Malay support as long as it can increase its share of Malay votes.

Jeniri Amir, a fellow with the National Council of Professors, said non-Muslims were bound to be offended by the remark Zahid made at the Umno general assembly, but acknowledged the probability that he was not concerned about that.

Zahid said his party would amend the Federal Constitution to give shariah laws more clout if it won two-thirds of parliament seats in the next election.

Jeniri told FMT he believed Zahid was trying to show that Umno was not any less Islamic than PAS.


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