COMMENT Credit to a Selangor PAS executive council member for providing a reality check on claims by Umno president Najib Abdul Razak on the mushrooming cooperation between the Malay nationalist party and its perennial Islamist rival PAS.

Iskandar Abdul Samad said the embattled Umno supremo is “daydreaming” if he thinks that a crisis-ridden party such as Najib leads could use PAS as a smokescreen to divert attention from the problems plaguing it.

Employing the hyperbole that is par for the course in rhetorical exchanges between rival political parties, Iskandar said, “The whole world heard Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin’s speech last night. It is clear Umno is facing a serious internal crisis similar to those in 1988 and 1998.”