Hadi: We nursed 'lame duck' Umno, now they are leaving us

Hadi: We nursed 'lame duck' Umno, now they are leaving us

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang today accused Umno of being ungrateful following the latter's reluctance to forge an electoral pact.

"We saved a lame duck. It broke its leg during the 14th general election... Unfortunately, when it was healed, it wanted to swim on its own. It left us.

"This is immoral and not correct," Hadi told reporters in Marang, Terengganu today.

Frictions between PAS and Umno have been increasingly apparent since the Malacca election last November, which saw both parties on different corners. Eventually, Umno triumphed and PAS was vanquished.

Following this, there has been renewed efforts by PAS to strike an electoral pact for the upcoming Johor polls but Umno has been lukewarm to the idea.

Ties between PAS and Umno warmed when Najib Abdul Razak was the Umno president and mid-way through his 2013-2018 term as prime minister.

After 2018, PAS stumped for Umno in several by-elections, most of which saw Umno winning.

Cooperation between the two parties reached its peak in September 2019 with the signing of the Muafakat Nasional charter - a document that was supposed to lead the way towards a formal electoral pact.

However, tensions rose after PAS formally joined the Perikatan Nasional coalition led by Umno splinter party Bersatu.

The Umno annual delegates assembly in 2021 had resolved that the party cannot forge an electoral pact with Bersatu.

In Marang today, Hadi added that Muafakat Nasional must encompass Bersatu and even non-Muslim parties.

He claimed this had been agreed upon by the Muafakat Nasional committee as the goal was to replace BN, which Hadi argued was no longer relevant.

"If it's just PAS and Umno, there will be only Malay unity. What about other ethnic groups? Where will the others go?" he asked.