Sanusi open to rekindling friendship with Umno

The Star:

Sanusi open to rekindling friendship with Umno





PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has told Umno that he is open to rekindling their friendship.

“Don’t attack too much as we may be friends again tomorrow,” said the Kedah Mentri Besar.

The PAS leader, who was a guest in Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Sufian Hamdan’s Keluar Sekejap podcast, said he was still open to the idea of rekindling the friendship with the one-time ally.

“I still remind friends who are Umno leaders not to attack (us) too much because we may be friends again tomorrow. I am still open to that.

“Muafakat Nasional can be revived,” he added.

He also blamed Umno chief Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for the collapse of Muafakat which was a cooperation between Umno and PAS.

“Muafakat collapsed because of him. He brought it down so that he can work with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” he said, referring to Umno’s cooperation with Pakatan Harapan.

Muhammad Sanusi said there is no enmity towards his Umno “friends” who was once with PAS in Muafakat, adding that they were simply toeing the line with the decision of their “boss”.

He said the fundamentals of Muafakat is the unity of the “ummah” instead of that of PAS and Umno.

“Whoever who wants to be united with the ummah are welcomed, including Bersatu,” he said.

After the historic defeat in the 2018 General Election, Umno and PAS inked a charter of cooperation called Muafakat Nasional to fight their common enemy, Pakatan.

It was signed with much pomp by PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang and his Umno counterpart Ahmad Zahid with a rally in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 14, 2019.

Prior to the 15th General Election (GE15), Umno posed three conditions to PAS if it wanted to cooperate with them for the national polls.

This includes PAS leaving Perikatan Nasional and severing ties with Bersatu.

***

kt comments:

This is the second reported "overture" to UMNO within a week, just ngam gnam before the state elections. But the objective is more strategically poised at the federal level, namely, to prise UMNO away from the Pakatan coalition in order to regain majority rule federally.