Muafakat still intact despite calls for its end, says PAS spiritual leader

PETALING JAYA: PAS has not made any decision yet regarding its cooperation with Umno under the Muafakat Nasional (MN) pact despite calls pushing for an end to the charter, says the party’s spiritual leader Datuk Hashim Jasin.

He added that the party insisted that its position in MN remained intact even though some top PAS leaders claimed that Umno had failed to abide by the charter they had previously agreed upon.

Hashim reportedly said that the Islamist party remained committed to continuing to strengthen MN while supporting Perikatan Nasional, of which Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia is also a member.

“We have yet to decide about Umno, the cooperation remains the same, nothing has changed until today.

“This matter is expected to be discussed at the PAS Ulama Syura Council next week,” he said in a report by Berita Harian on Sunday (Dec 12).

He also told the Malay daily that PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang’s opinion on the call to reject all cooperation with Umno, whom he (Abdul Hadi) alleged had broken the MN accord, was his alone and not the official stance of the Islamist party.

“Everyone has their own view on the issue. Not all Umno people can accept it but we hope that everyone can be open to this question and subsequently put MN as the ultimate goal and aspiration,” Hashim added.

He said this in response to a statement by Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan denying that the party had broken the accord agreed through MN only because it rejected Bersatu’s participation.

Mohamad, in response to Hadi’s statement, explained that MN was not established with the goal that Bersatu must be a part of it, instead the alliance was founded to oppose Pakatan Harapan (PH).