PETALING JAYA: Perikatan Nasional’s electoral cooperation with Barisan Nasional in the Negri Sembilan polls is not a “political charade”, says PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang.
He said the way PAS and Umno members are contributing their time and money to campaign proved they are working hard to secure a win in the election.
“PAS members are going out and bearing their own expenses and contributing their energy. Umno members are doing the same,” he said when met at Masjid Rusila in Marang.
Abdul Hadi said PAS, a component party of Perikatan, hoped its renewed cooperation with Umno of Barisan would last, despite the two parties’ history of forming and ending political partnerships.
“We hope it will last. We hope it will last for a long time,” he said.
He said differences between PAS and Umno were primarily over their respective approaches, with PAS founded on Islam and Umno championing the Malays.
Abdul Hadi expressed confidence that these differences could be resolved.
Meanwhile, PAS election director Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has questioned Bersatu’s strategy of attacking the party instead of Pakatan Harapan.
Sanusi urged Bersatu leaders to set aside their egos and support the Barisan-Perikatan cooperation, and warned that the party could not survive on its own.
“They need to join this unity so that we can move forward together on one big ship. The waves outside are too strong for you to face alone,” said Muhammad Sanusi, who is also Kedah Mentri Besar.
PAS and Bersatu are partners in Perikatan, but relations between the two have strained over the past year.
The Barisan-Perikatan cooperation has become a key feature of the Negri Sembilan campaign, with leaders from both coalitions urging their respective supporters to back one another’s candidates despite contesting under separate banners.
The arrangement follows an electoral understanding in which the two sides avoid multi-cornered contests in most seats in an effort to consolidate opposition votes against the Pakatan Harapan-led state government.
