27/07/2009: PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat has quashed speculation that he was keen to revive ‘unity talks’ with Umno, blaming the latter for twisting his words in a bid to deflect attention from its current woes and trying to drive a wedge between Pakatan Rakyat members. “This is Umno’s game, it does not come from PAS,” Nik Aziz said in a statement on Monday.
“I proposed the relationship between the two governments to be improved in line with the spirit of federalism.” The Kelantan Menteri Besar had recently suggested that his state government and Najib Razak’s Umno-BN federal administration fostered closer co-operation. There are several outstanding issues including unpaid oil royalty owed by the federal government to Kelantan.
But in a sign of how eager Umno’s top leaders are for a tie-up with PAS – the second biggest Malay party – Nik Aziz unwittingly sparked a chain reaction with even Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin getting into the act. Over the weekend, Muhyiddin was reported to have said that Umno’s supreme council would look into ‘serious talks’ between the two parties.
Support for Umno has been flagging. It is now smack in the centre of a huge public uproar over the controversial death of a Selangor government officer Teoh Beng Hock, seen to be a victim of an Umno conspiracy to topple the Pakatan state administration. Umno has already lost the confidence of the non-Malays in the country and it now needs to shore up its support among the Malays – which make up 55 percent of the nation’s 27 million population.
Otherwise, failure at the next general election is seen as inevitable. Umno is therefore trying all ways and means to tie-up with PAS to maintain control of the country. But PAS has been much less eager, even though talk is rife that some leaders like deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa are personally keen on a merger on the premise that a tie-up could provide them and their supporters a short-cut to federal power.
However, senior-most leaders like Nik Aziz and party president Hadi Awang have repeatedly announced that the Islamist party will stay with PKR and DAP in the Pakatan coailtion. All three Pakatan partners have also agreed to talk on a coalition-to-coalition basis with Umno-BN on key national issues but have declined the offer of any form of merger.
“This is not party matters. I am not interested in getting the parties together, that is a separate matter,” said Nik Aziz. Meanwhile, the Umno press has continued to churn out the same old ‘unity’ songs and speculation, inviting comments from outspoken former premier Mahathir Mohamad even though he is in Africa on an overseas trip.
The feisty 84-year old leader added to the sizzle by labelling PAS a racist party and warning Umno to be careful of Nik Aziz. “Firstly, who does PAS want to cooperate with? If it wants to cooperate with the BN, join the BN. If it wants to cooperate with Umno – it’s a racist party so I’m worried about its intention,” Mahathir told Malaysian reporters covering an event he was attending in Uganda. Suara Keadilan
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