RANTAU, April 10 — Umno and PAS members must set ego aside and cooperate for the benefit of Malays and Islam, Datuk Mahfodz Mohamed said last night.

The PAS Dewan Ulama member claimed the two parties’ cooperation was not just for their own political interests.

"Please do not think this is only a partnership of Umno and PAS. But it is for the purpose of empowering Islam, defending the Malay community and the sovereignty of the Malay rulers,” he said during a ceramah in Kampung Sendayan.

He went on to claim that Malays and Islam are now regularly insulted.

"Such attempts have become more brazen as they know the Malays won’t fight back,” he alleged.

People attend a Barisan Nasional ceramah held in conjunction with the Rantau by-election in Kampung Sendayan, Seremban April 10, 2019. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

Mahfodz acknowledged that the alliance with Umno was not easy for PAS grassroots to accept due to decades of enmity.

However, he asserted that the members were loyal and fully behind the party leaders’ decision to ally with Umno.

He claimed Pakatan Harapan parties could not be trusted to preserve the Malays and Islam’s position.

Instead, he said cooperating with Umno — which his party had vilified up until their recent cooperation — was the only way for PAS to defend both.