Umno should thank Bersatu, says PAS leader

Bersatu has been a sore point in Umno's friendship with PAS, which has effectively prevented the two parties from continuing their political cooperation that began after the 14th general election.

Umno's main issue with Bersatu was the latter's alleged determination to "kill off" the oldest Malay party.

However, PAS believed that Umno should thank Bersatu instead.

The Islamist party’s vice-president Idris Ahmad said Bersatu has helped Umno to become a part of the government again in 2020 after having been in the opposition for two years following a humiliating defeat in GE14.

"Umno should thank Bersatu because Bersatu was the one that effectively stopped them from continuing to be in the opposition," Utusan Online quoted him as saying.

Idris (above), who is a former minister in the Prime Minister's Department, was referring to the Sheraton Move incident in 2020 which saw Bersatu exiting Pakatan Harapan and causing the collapse of the then-Harapan administration.

Following the incident, Bersatu and PAS cooperated with BN to form a government with Muhyiddin Yassin as its prime minister.

The Bersatu president was an Umno deputy president before being sacked by Najib Abdul Razak during an internal crisis.

‘Bersatu is your friend’

However, Idris blamed Umno for causing the fall of Muhyiddin's premiership in mid-2021.

"We brought Umno into the cabinet but in return, they caused trouble to bring down Muhyiddin, so the position will get in their hands. And they had no problem with doing this.

"The rakyat saw this. Umno should have thanked Bersatu because Bersatu is your friend, and many of its members came from your party.

"If we (PAS) could accept Bersatu, why can't you?" he said.

Perikatan Nasional - especially PAS - had been mounting efforts to woo Umno into leaving the government, especially after the coalition’s landslide victory in the recent Kemaman parliamentary by-election.

The by-election saw another PAS leader, Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, defeating BN's Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor with over 37,000 votes majority.

Besides PAS, Muhyiddin had also urged Umno to re-evaluate its cooperation with the unity government, citing the by-election results as proof that Umno supporters have now shifted to PAS.

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