Umno never intended to threaten PAS over ties with Bersatu, says Zahid

Umno has never had any intention of harassing or threatening PAS to stop it from joining forces with Bersatu as each political party is free to execute its own policies and plans, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says.

However, he admitted that Umno had recently raised the decisions made by the Muafakat Nasional (MN) main committee at meetings held in October and November last year as a basis to continue their alliance for the Melaka state election.

“The cooperation with PAS (within MN) is based on the principle that PAS will use its own logo. However, the PAS leadership does not seem to be interested in what was decided within MN as it wants to be with Bersatu,” he said in a Facebook post last night.

The political cooperation, known as the MN charter, was signed by Zahid and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang in September 2019.

The Election Commission has set Nov 20 for polling in Melaka and Nov 8 for nominations while early voting will be conducted on Nov 16.

The election is being held following the dissolution of the state legislative assembly on Oct 4, after four assemblymen withdrew their support for the chief minister.