Umno in troubled waters over ‘muzakarah’

ARCHIVES 2012

By admin-s On May 28, 2012

(Free Malaysia Today) – The game plan laid by Nik Aziz and supported by Anwar has caught Umno by surprise.

The move to call for a “muzakarah” or dialogue with Umno by Kelantan Menteri Besar and PAS Mursyidul Am (spiritual adviser), Nik Aziz Nik Mat, came as a surprise to many.

However, as the events unfolded, it is now proven to be a very well planned attempt to steer Umno out of its recent “feel-good” factor into more troublesome waters.

The initial reaction by Umno on the offer by Nik Aziz was to open the door for a resumption of the abandoned PAS-Umno unity talks.

Then came the conditions imposed by the PAS Mursyidul Am which upset Umno and sent many of its leaders into a “vitriolic” demonisation of PAS.

This included Dr Mahathir Mohamad who warned Umno to approach the PAS-Umno talks with caution. Umno leaders quickly ridiculed the “conditions” laid before them by Nik Aziz.

Utusan Malaysia, the Umno Malay language mouthpiece, carried several articles on the PAS-Umno talks in which the Umno leaders were flabbergasted by Nik Aziz’s conditional approach to these talks.

They were shell-shocked that the PAS leader from Kelantan gave the impression that he was determined to discuss with PAS but made a sudden turnaround to impose “ridiculous” conditions for the talks.

What Umno has not seen yet is the impact of the attack plan orchestrated most probably by both Nik Aziz and Anwar Ibrahim, the two topmost leaders of Pakatan Rakyat.

Knowing the powers of persuasion of Nik Aziz and his unique approach in handling the political scenarios in the country, the seemingly sudden U-turn was to be expected.

It was impossible for Nik Aziz to make the offer for “unity” talks without knowing the shock wave it would bring both to Pakatan and the Umno. It was also not on his own personal accord as both Anwar and Nik Aziz have been coordinating and charting the Pakatan work charts in tandem.

The comments by Anwar, published on FMT on the PAS-Umno unity talks, indicated that he had full control of the situation.