TEMERLOH — PAS still wants to revive its Muafakat Nasional (MN) pact with Umno but without the latter’s president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang.
The PAS president said his party has been engaging in talks with certain Umno leaders, not including Zahid.
“(We want) to bring in Malay bumiputera leaders and non-Muslim (leaders) who are not extreme (into MN), excluding Zahid,” Hadi told a press conference on the sidelines of PAS’ 70th Annual Muktamar, here, today.
When asked by a reporter whether the party is still open to accepting Umno, Hadi said: “Yes, yes, yes”.
The Marang MP also said that when MN was established in 2019 by PAS and Umno after Umno-Barisan Nasional lost the general election the year before, Zahid had not been involved in MN’s formation.
Umno and PAS formed MN as an electoral pact with the aim of uniting the Malay-Muslim vote against Pakatan Harapan (PH), but it collapsed after PAS chose to work with Bersatu under Perikatan Nasional.
Despite Umno now being part of the unity government with PH, several PAS leaders have continued to pursue MN’s revival with Umno, but this has been rejected by Zahid.
On the scandal involving Global Ikhwan Services and Business (GISBH) Holdings, Hadi has denied claims made by international media that PAS is linked with the company which is under scrutiny for links to welfare homes where children were allegedly physically and sexually abused.
“They (GISBH members) are not our members,” Hadi said.
He also said incidents of child abuse would not occur in kindergarten and schools operated by PAS, which has strict supervision of the education centres that it runs.
“Things are under control. We have our own committees that supervise (these institutions).’’ — September 14, 2024