Nasha: More effort needed for Umno-PAS dialogue
Former deputy PAS president Nasharudin Mat Isa said today that more effort was required for PAS to engage Umno in dialogue.
Former deputy PAS president Nasharudin Mat Isa said today that more effort was required for PAS to engage Umno in dialogue.
“If you were to talk about partisan politics, I’ve tried to make an effort to try to bring close the differences between the two organisations.
“But if you have been following, it’s still something that has to be put an effort on because the public just can’t understand very well yet what this small group in my organisation is concerned about that needs to be talked and discussed.
“It is not about merging or crossing over, but the need to talk, not just between PAS and Umno, but also PAS and other organisations,” he said at the Global Movement of Moderates International conference at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre this evening.
Nasharudin (
left
) was responding to a question from the floor over why PAS was working with non-Muslim parties but refused to engage Umno after he lamented that Muslim countries were fighting each other but have friendly relations with non-Muslim countries.
“When we sit down, whatever the topic that is to be discussed it should be for the betterment of the country and the people,” he said at a press conference later.
When asked if previous contentious unity talks between Umno and PAS are similar to what he is suggesting, Nasharudin replied: “Well, that’s a form of dialogue.”
However, he clarified that the unity talks have been inaccurately confined to being about forming a government or a political coalition.
“That has never been on the agenda, the purpose of any kind of discussion should be forward-looking for the benefit of the nation.”
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein echoed this, stating that the conference today was a platform for dialogue when other platforms were not available.
“I think this is the strength of this conference, in that (when) other platforms, for whatever, reason are not allowed to happen... I think Malaysia can come up as a shining example if this movement can be followed through without any preconditions or baggage.”
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