“Tun M, Hadi collaboration nothing but a political gimmick,” scoffs Puad
ANOTHER UMNO leader has poured scorn on the latest “collaboration” between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang which saw Hadi and several party top brass signing the “Malay Proclamation” on Wednesday (May 3).
The 12-point document, said to be the brainchild of the former prime minister, aims to protect the interests of and unite the Malay community to “restore the political power of Malays”.
“This is nothing but a political gimmick. Whether PAS or Dr Mahathir, their track records tell you that none of them can be trusted,” said UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi.
“PAS had previously signed the Muafakat Nasional (MN) charter with UMNO…but PAS later went on to betray UMNO by joining Perikatan Nasional (PN).”
In Sept 2019, UMNO and PAS, as two of the largest Malay-based parties, had formed MN as an electoral pact aimed at uniting the Malay-Muslim vote.
However, ties between the two parties became increasingly strained after PAS joined forces with Bersatu to form Perikatan Nasional when Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was the prime minister.
In November 2021, it was reported that PAS had rejected its pact with UMNO under MN, with Hadi describing it as akin to being “shackled”.
Puad went on to question the presence of several Bersatu leaders who had signed the “Malay Proclamation” in their own capacity.
“As far as we know, Bersatu had previously rejected the idea of cooperating with Dr Mahathir. Therefore, the presence of several Bersatu leaders [at the meeting] does not indicate that there is an agreement among party members,” he pointed out.
“The question here is, is PAS blind? PAS should not forget how Dr Mahathir had previously supported the ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the Rome Statute and how UMNO and PAS had to come together to stop that from happening.
“Enough with the farce already. Furthermore, Dr Mahathir is no longer the leader of any political party. The proclamation is nothing but a provocation to disrupt the unity government.” – May 5, 2023
In fact, Mahathir, Hadi and UMNO have collaborated before, in the conspiracy that led ultimately to the Sheraton Move.
ReplyDeleteMahathir was obsessed with ensuring he stay in power as PM after GE14, reneging on the deal to hand over the PM-ship to Anwar.
What went wrong for Mahathir was the Sheraton Move succeeded in collapsing the Harapan Government, but Mahathir found himself played out of power.
The backstabber found himself backstabbed.
Mahathir is a brilliant tactician who is one fell swoop he got rid of the evangelical Christian party from the ruling team. So clever!
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