AN UMNO leader has proposed that PAS quit Perikatan Nasional (PN) to join the unity government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for the sake of strengthening the position of Islam.
Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi has urged PAS not to waste time looking for backdoor means, judging other people or issuing various fatwas that divide Malay community.
“PAS should be moving forward. Leave PN and join the unity government. Share power and provide checks and balances within the government,” the UMNO Supreme Council member said in a Facebook post today (Sept 27).
“It’s better for PAS to be in the government to stabilise politics, build the nation, promote the Islamic agenda and Malay interests, and equality.”
Puad was responding to former UMNO leader Tan Sri Annuar Musa’s statement on Saturday night (Sept 23) at Dataran Purnama, Bentong, where he urged UMNO members to join PAS as UMNO is currently being destroyed by leaders with vested interests.
In his post, Puad also criticised Annuar for harping on the “No Anwar, no DAP” slogan, which he reckoned was no longer relevant.
It is interesting to note, however, that Annuar harping on the slogan is nothing new as he had previously, in his capacity as UMNO secretary-general in 2021, defended a similar stance.
Recall that Annuar, who was the former Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general, had said he will continue to defend the UMNO Supreme Council’s decision back then to reject any form of political cooperation with DAP and Anwar, who is also the PKR president.
Annuar said he wanted UMNO to remain a party that championed Malay and Muslim party solidarity, adding that he was willing to be sacked from the party if there are those who were unhappy with his stance.
Annuar, a former Ketereh MP now with PAS, also invited UMNO members to join the Islamist party if they wanted to continue the fight to advocate Malay interests.
To this, Puad retorted: “What fight (is he talking about)? What are Annuar’s achievements since he joined PAS?”
After the 15th General Election (GE15), UMNO became part of the unity government led by Anwar after no party or coalition was given a clear mandate to govern after last year’s GE15 which had resulted in a hung Parliament for the first time in Malaysian history. – Sept 27, 2023