Umno ready to hear PAS ‘formula’ for peace with Bersatu

Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan today said the party respects the efforts of PAS leaders to play the middle man in restoring ties between it and Bersatu.

However, he said Umno would have to hear PAS’ “formula” for this before coming to a decision.

“Try and make peace, we will see how it goes,” he said at a press conference after officiating the Umno general assembly in Kuala Lumpur.

“We want to hear their formula. That’s our stance for now. Umno is ready to listen,” he added.

Several PAS leaders had previously voiced concerns about Umno’s ties with Bersatu which are set to end at the 15th general election (GE15).

They also urged Umno to be rational in making any decision about its cooperation with Bersatu, which is led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Some of them said they would work to ensure that the relationship between the two Malay parties is restored before GE15.

PAS and Bersatu are both part of Perikatan Nasional (PN), the coalition formed in the wake of Pakatan Harapan’s collapse last year.

Umno however decided to stay out of the coalition although its 30-odd MPs form the ruling bloc in Parliament.

Despite their party’s support, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his predecessor Najib Razak have been at the forefront of attacks against the PN government.

At the heart of their grievances is that Muhyiddin, who formed the splinter party Bersatu after his fallout with Najib in 2015 over the 1MDB scandal, had sidelined Umno for key government posts.

Zahid, Najib and a section of veteran Umno leaders aligned with them have urged PAS to ditch PN, reminding it of the Muafakat Nasional charter it signed with Umno in 2019 when the two parties were in the opposition.