Umno-PAS leaders met to discuss election pact for GE16, says Fadhli

But the PAS information chief says such an alliance is only talk for now.

(FMT) – Umno leaders have met with PAS on several occasions to discuss an alliance for the next general election, the Islamic party’s information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari claims.

He said the meetings were “informal” and involved the top leaderships of both parties, Utusan Malaysia reported.

Fadhli also claimed that an Umno leader whom he did not name had said that he was in a “dilemma” as he was working with the unity government. He said the Umno leader had described this as being to the party’s detriment.

“In one of the meetings, they expressed hope that Umno would go back to working with PAS, but they were too afraid to go against their president’s decision,” Fadhli was quoted as saying, referring to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

“They also hope that the Umno president will have a change of heart as the vision he is pushing for is not shared by the grassroots. This is what they (the grassroots) tell me.”

Fadhli added however that the idea of an alliance between PAS and Umno was only talk at this point.

Barisan Nasional (BN), Umno’s umbrella coalition, has yet to make an official decision on an alliance for GE16. However, Zahid who is BN chairman has repeatedly said that the coalition will continue its present cooperation with Pakatan Harapan (PH) at the next nationwide polls.

Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan meanwhile has said that BN could go solo once Umno has regained its strength.

And Umno Supreme Council member Jalaluddin Alias was reported as saying that while cooperation between BN and PH is smooth at the federal level, the same cannot be said at the state levels.

Fadhli said that based on what the Umno leader had shared with him, he was confident that others had realised the Malays’ rejection of the BN-PH alliance and were now afraid that it would lose the next election.

“They don’t regret the cooperation with PH, but they feel they are in a tight spot as Umno is keeping PH in power.”

He also said that his party had no issues with Zahid and would be willing to work with him if he wanted to join forces with PAS.

“It’s not that we don’t like him, we are just not too fond of his attitude. But if he says he wants to work with PAS, we can talk,” he said, expressing confidence that Umno would win more seats with PAS than through a continued alliance with PH.