PETALING JAYA: The feud between Umno and PAS is heating up as GE15 looms, with leaders of both parties embroiled in a war of words.
In a cryptic play of words, PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang responded to a recent speech by Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in which the Umno president likened his own party to a “durian”.
“I heard him (Ahmad Zahid) saying that Umno is like a durian while PAS – a cucumber.
“That’s fine. Let them be a durian while we’ll be cucumbers, no problem.
“However, the durian will one day ripen and fall from the tree. Then, it will be made into tempoyak (fermented durian).
“When it becomes tempoyak, you’ll eat it with budu (fermented anchovy sauce). The cucumber will be used to dip the tempoyak. That time will come one day,” Abdul Hadi said in his speech at a political rally in Kota Baru on Friday.
The excerpt of Abdul Hadi’s speech was edited into a video and uploaded to his Facebook page.
He was addressing the Muafakat Nasional cooperation between Umno and PAS, which failed to make headway going into GE15.
Recently, Ahmad Zahid said it was disappointing that Abdul Hadi had likened the Muafakat pact to a “raw durian”.
Responding to the comment, Ahmad Zahid told those involved not to “play with durians” as it is a fruit with sharp thorns that could injure them.
After the defeat of Barisan Nasional in GE14, the coalition formed a pact with PAS under Muafakat.
The two parties, however, will be going against each other in GE15 with PAS choosing to go with Bersatu under the Perikatan Nasional coalition.
