Don’t take Umno-PAS partnership lightly, says Kadir

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan is making a big mistake if it takes the Umno-PAS partnership lightly, warns veteran newsman Datuk A. Kadir Jasin.

Writing on his personal blog yesterday, he said this was especially after more people who voted them in on May 9 were dissatisfied with their performance.

“(The defeats in) Cameron Highlands and Semenyih were more than enough to raise ‘defcon’ at the highest level to Pakatan leaders,” he said.

Defcon, or defence readiness condition, is an alert state used by the US Armed Forces.

Kadir said during Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s era, Umno had built a bridge connecting them and PAS on the “cash is king” policy.

“It had corrupted certain PAS leaders by introducing them to lavish lifestyles with a bribe said to total up to RM90mil.

“This was exposed when PAS was found to have paid RM1.4mil to Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle Brown to drop a libel suit in the London civil court.

“The pleasures of the world offered by Umno had finally trapped PAS, and the Islamist party had gone crazy and insane,” he said.

Kadir said it was also good if Umno were to “marry or cohabit” with PAS so that Umno could “enjoy the pleasure of cohabiting” with a party that had vast experience in political marriages and divorces.

However, he said Umno and PAS were already cohabiting and had produced two “children” – Cameron Highlands and Semenyih.

“It will not be surprising if MCA and MIC decide to leave through the back door and find new bedfellows.

“Whether Umno and PAS are legally married or simply cohabiting, MCA and MIC have no place in the house called Barisan Nasional,” he added.

Kadir said the Barisan Nasional name was no longer suitable to be used by Umno-PAS as the coalition between the two parties was not based on multiracial and religions, but a deal between Malay nationalist and Malay religion.

He also questioned how Umno and PAS would legitimise their affiliation after many years of attacking each other.

He highlighted PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s decree in the 1980s, where he had allegedly stated that those who supported Umno were infidels.