Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (sitting, middle) at a press conference after chairing a meeting with Sabah Umno in Kota Kinabalu on Dec 13. - Bernama
KOTA KINABALU: Umno has no formal relations with PAS, but only cooperate on certain occasions, claims Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob.
The Umno vice-president said that the party and PAS only worked together sometimes as part of the opposition block in Parliament if there were issues that needed highlighting.
He said this cooperation included issues like race and religion, such as the recent anti-Icerd (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination) rally.
Ismail denied there was a formal coalition between PAS and Umno, in response to concerns raised by former Sabah Umno leaders, led by Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor.
Hajiji had alluded to the increasingly conservative Umno-PAS cooperation to defend Islam, which he said did not augur well for the party’s 100,000 non-Muslim members in Sabah.
Hajiji led most of Sabah Umno's state and federal lawmakers as well division leaders out of the party on Wednesday (Dec 12).
“Our working relationship with PAS was mainly on the basis as an opposition block, there is nothing to worry (about the relationship),” claimed Ismail Sabri, who flew in to the Sabah state capital on Thursday (Dec 13) to meet up with Sabah Umno members to stabilise the situation.
He also said that Sabah Umno will be given more autonomous powers in handling the needs of the state.
Ismail Sabri said that party president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has been telling members to hold their fort and work as a constructive opposition.
“Dr Ahmad Zahid was supposed to come to Sabah on Dec 3 to explain the party's stand, but the then Sabah Umno committee asked it to be postponed to Jan 13. It seems a little too late,” he said at a press conference here on Thursday.
He said the party respected the decision of the Sabah Umno party leaders who left on their own freewill.
“We as a party must move forward, maybe there are some things we have to improve in the party, we will do it” he added.
On the former members possibly joining Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, he said some of the other Umno members who had left the party earlier had remained as independents for over six months.
“It is not definite that they will join Bersatu,” he said, adding that Bersatu’s partners in Pakatan Harapan, DAP and PKR, were also asking Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad not to accept the defectors into his party.
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