PAS cannot always oppose Umno, says Nik Abduh
In defending a possible Umno-PAS relationship, PAS youth chief Nik Muhamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz said the Islamic party cannot always oppose the country's ruling party.
Instead, he said PAS should be supportive Umno's effort if the latter comes up with good deeds.
Nik Abduh was responding to the olive branch extended by Prime Minister and Umno president Najib Abdul Razak tp PAS at the Umno AGM two weeks ago.
"If Umno does good things, PAS will support. Even though the opposition, PAS must not always oppose to the good deeds of Umno. This is not healthy politics.
"Likewise for Umno, they need to do the same if PAS or other opposition parties did good things. They should not insulate (us). This is the political maturity we want," he said as quoted by Malay daily Sinar Harian today.
The Pasir Mas parliamentarian, however, pointed out this does not means that both PAS and Umno will unite as many have wished.
He emphasised that the relationship was only restricted to political cooperation.
"This is not unification but merely cooperation," he said, adding PAS will continue to be an opposition party while Umno is the ruling party.
Nik Abduh's comments come as leaders of both parties increasingly engage in an informal exchange of statemnst regarding cooperation following Najib's offer.
Last Thursday, Najib and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang shared the stage at a regional conference ( multaqa ) for Al-Azhar University graduates held for the first time in Kuala Lumpur.
Hadi had expressed confidence that the Malays will not become like the Arabs who fight amongst themselves because of differences in ideology.
“And they fight with weapons given by both the West and the East either from America, Russia or China.
“InsyaAllah, the Malays won’t be like the Arabs,” Hadi said at the multaqa adding Muslims here may differ in opinion but this will not lead to proxy wars.
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