A slew of meetings were held between Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and PAS representatives to forge political cooperation. But in the end, nothing materialised.

And Bersatu's strategist Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff pinned the blame on a group of five within PAS, whom he accused of “working hard for Umno”.

He named them as PAS election director Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan, PAS lawmakers Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali and Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz and PAS research director Ahmad Zuhdi Marzuki.

"Whenever we discuss something, the five will come out at great lengths to discredit what has been signed between (PAS deputy president) Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man and Bersatu.

"Their guns will be pointed towards (Bersatu chairperson) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) and this is their strategy. We understand that.

"But remember my message to this five is that they are betraying the people's trust in them," he told Malaysiakini.

Rais believes “the vast majority” of the PAS grassroots will not condone the Islamist party working with Umno, its traditional rival for decades.

Nik Abduh: Rais just whining

However, Nik Abduh said Rais is just whining and trying to find fault with PAS after talks between the two parties went south.

"He should be ready to listen to PAS, instead of only blaming PAS and pitting its leaders (against one another).

"If he wants to be Bersatu's mastermind, he should do his work, instead of whining like a spoiled brat," added the son of former PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

The other four PAS leaders have yet to respond to Malaysiakini's requests for comment.

However, Rais admitted he did not have meetings with all of the five but met with Nik Abduh and Samsuri.

During that meeting, the Bersatu strategist said he posed the same question to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang to the pair.

"I asked… how they could work with a party like Umno when they are representing Islam.

"(But) they seemed to portray that they know politics a little bit better than us. They forgot that our party is led by someone who administered the country for 22 years," he added in reference to Mahathir.

'Signed agreement to santai-santai'

Rais claimed the five were also badmouthing Bersatu, and yet the party continued to hold talks with PAS because Bersatu is “magnanimous”.

The goodwill was likely due to the warm reception received from others in the PAS camp, including Tuan Ibrahim and former secretary-general Mustafa Ali, who attended the talks.

Mustafa (photo), a veteran leader who traces his involvement in PAS to the 1970s, was last week dropped as PAS central committee member in a move that shocked political observers.

Rais said he met with PAS at least thrice and “documents were exchanged”. But what appeared to be a formal agreement changed after the representatives returned to the PAS headquarters.

"After going back to the headquarters they claimed we met for 'santai-santai' (casual talk). But there is no such thing as santai-santai - documents were exchanged,” he added.

Rais said a document dubbed “Muafakat PAS" (PAS cooperation) was handed by PAS and amended during one of the meetings before it was signed by both parties.

"The joint statement signed by Tuan Ibrahim and (Bersatu deputy president) Mukhriz (Mahathir) released to the media on Feb 1 was released by PAS, not by us.

"And two, three days later, they said we had a casual discussion.

"If we are talking about principles of Islam, we need to be truthful. What kind of acrobatics is this?" he asked.

Nail in coffin of PAS-Bersatu talks

PAS and Bersatu held a closed-door meeting on Feb 1, without the presence of their respective presidents or Mahathir.

Bersatu was represented by Mukhriz, who chaired the meeting while PAS was represented by Tuan Ibrahim and vice-president Idris Ahmad.

In their joint statement, Mukhriz and Tuan Ibrahim said the two parties had agreed to form a joint technical committee to follow up on the outcome of the meeting.

However, Hadi, during the PAS muktamar last month, reiterated that his party will not collaborate with Bersatu, citing the latter's lack of leadership, among others.

Hadi’s remarks also followed Bersatu chairperson Mahathir who had, in a scathing blog posting, said PAS is a divisive force in the Malay and Muslim community.

Bersatu had tried to forge co-operation with PAS to avoid multi-cornered fights in the 14th general election.

The Umno splinter party became Pakatan Harapan’s fourth member on March 14, 2017.