The politics of not abandoning Muafakat Nasional By Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy

The politics of not abandoning Muafakat Nasional
By Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy




WITH so much bad blood between UMNO and PAS, some leaders from the latter are refusing to admit that Muafakat Nasional (MN) is dead and gone.

Both parties might not have officially declared that MN to be a thing of the past, but it is clear that UMNO and PAS might not band together in MN.


MN was a marriage of convenience formed to oppose the Pakatan Harapan government on grounds of race and religion.


It was never a serious attempt to cement the solidarity of both parties who are political enemies for a long period.


When both parties came together in MN, the question was how long the marriage was going to last because given the traditional enmity between the both, it was just the question of time before they fell apart.


It hardly took few years with the ascendancy of UMNO for the pact to dissipate.

UMNO might be over-ambitious, but that does not mean PAS had no role in the withering away of MN.

PAS’ close association with Bersatu and its leader Muhyiddin Yassin was the contributing factor as to why UMNO and PAS distanced themselves from one another in the last few years.

Of course, the attacks and counter-attacks by the leaders of both parties hardly provided a conducive environment for the survival of MN and so it was just a matter of time before the pact was rendered null and void.

If it is dead, then it is dead – I don’t understand why some PAS leaders are giving the impression that MN is alive until officially declared non-existent.

The idea to keep MN alive might not have anything to do with PAS’ rift with UMNO but perhaps it has got something to with the internal politics in PAS.

I understand that there are some in PAS who prefer to maintain their ties with UMNO. They might be a minority but nonetheless are not happy with the dominant faction that is loyal to party president Tan Sri Hadi Awang.

Maybe there are individuals in this faction who are keen in maintaining ties with UMNO through MN.

They look at MN as a bridge.

The individuals in PAS who want to maintain with MN are those who believe that chances of UMNO/BN coming to national power is very real.

Given this, why close off a window of opportunity that is present in MN to maintain at least minimal ties with UMNO?

Whatever you say about PAS’ leaders, they are first and foremost shrewd politicians – politicians who are not above using religion and race to seek political power.

In fact, the quest of political power has over the years overshadowed the often-stated lofty religious goals of the party.

The question is, why should some PAS leaders who believe in the supremacy of politics abandon something such as MN that might serve their political purposes later? – May 26, 2022



Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is the state assemblyperson for Perai. He is also deputy chief minister II of Penang.