KUALA LUMPUR: The tie-up between Umno and PAS has finally happened, but not the way some hoped for and few expected.
Today, the two parties announced that there would be a collaboration between them.
What was left unsaid was that a marriage – coming together as a coalition or even a merger – was probably still some way off. Even a new symbol was not on the table.
For now, the two parties would only form a technical committee to enhance the current position of the opposition bloc and push forward the Muslim agenda.
Acting Umno president Datuk Mohamed Hasan made the announcement at the end of a consultative meeting between the two parties at Menara Dato Onn in the Putra World Trade Centre.
He said the meeting focused mainly on the unity of the Malays and Islam, and not the unification of the two parties.
“This is not (a plan) to merge the parties. It is (for us) to work together and find common ground. Neither will we be using a new symbol to contest in elections.”
He also gave an assurance that the agreement for the two Malay-Muslim parties to work together did not mean that other communities, including the Chinese and Indians, would be abandoned.
Mohamed said the technical committee would focus on outlining areas of cooperation that would help to strengthen the opposition bloc in Parliament so it could better ensure checks and balance.
“During the discussions, we also agreed to continue supporting one another in future by-elections,” he added.
Despite the obvious, Mohamed could not help but likened the tie-up as a form of wedding, albeit in jest.
“First we sent the engagement ring during the Sungai Kandis by-election, after which we got engaged during the Seri Setia by-election and now we’re having our kenduri (official cooperation),” he said.
Mohamed said he would continue to serve as acting Umno president until Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi decides to return. Ahmad Zahid, the party president, is on “garden leave” to face several corruption charges in court.
“The president is on leave for a while, and I am taking over his duties. It’s for him to decide when he wants to return to resume his duties as the president,” Mohamed said.
But, he added, at the end of the day it was the delegates who decide who should be party president and who should be deputy.
