PAS ditched Malay unity for 47 seats from Bersatu, claims Asyraf

PETALING JAYA: PAS has chosen to stick with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia because the latter has promised it 47 winnable seats in the general election, Umno Youth chief Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki claimed.

In a Facebook post yesterday, he added that this was confirmed by PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang when he and his deputy met their Umno counterparts on Oct 12.

The post was accompanied by a photograph showing Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his deputy Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan having a meal with Abdul Hadi and his deputy Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

“This was an eight-eyed meeting between the presidents and deputy presidents of Umno and PAS on Wednesday, Oct 12, a day before PAS finally made the decision to stay on with Bersatu in Perikatan Nasional.

“This meeting was the final attempt by Umno to accept PAS to save Muafakat Nasional, which was on for 22 months when we were both in the Opposition, to end the political enmity of decades which hurt the Muslim brotherhood,” Asyraf wrote.

He said the meeting was held after Umno was approached by a top PAS leader with the message that the PAS Syura Council and PAS Muktamar wanted Muafakat Nasional to be revived.

“Umno then was big-hearted to take PAS back again, even though we had been betrayed when PAS agreed to register Perikatan with Bersatu despite them denying this several times during the Muafakat Nasional main committee meetings,” he added.

Asyraf also claimed that in the Melaka state election last year, Umno had offered five winnable seats to PAS to contest but Bersatu promised it 11.

“At this meeting (on Oct 12) too, PAS stated that if they stay with Perikatan, Bersatu has promised them 47 winnable seats.

“For Umno, however, the discussion to revive Muafakat Nasional was bigger than a mere division of seats. As a party with a cause for struggles, Umno has never lost its spirit even though honey was reciprocated with poison,” he said, adding that efforts had been maximised to unite the ummah (Muslims), especially between Umno and PAS.

On Oct 13, Abdul Hadi announced that PAS had decided to strengthen the cooperation in Perikatan to face the 15th General Election, on the principle of uniting the ummah.

Yesterday, during a lecture before Friday prayers in Rusila, Terengganu, Abdul Hadi explained the reason behind their decision, saying that there were corrupt leaders in Umno and that the party was “in murky waters due to bribery” and “greedy to gain power to rule”.