Muhyiddin has till mid-Jan to coax PAS, PPBM council member says

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) president Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin has until the middle of next month to convince PAS to enter in a political consensus with the party, Datuk A. Kadir Jasin revealed today.

The PPBM supreme leadership council member said should an agreement with PAS fails, it would send a signal that the Islamist party has chosen to cooperate with ruling party Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general elections.

“Since the general elections might be held suddenly, all parties do not have much time. Therefore, the negotiation with PAS cannot get protracted,” the veteran newsman wrote in his blog.

“The decision has to be made by middle of next month, one month from now. That is the mandate given to Muhyiddin and his team.

“If an agreement cannot be achieved after the date or PAS rejects a cooperation, then the assumption is that PAS is actually with Umno/BN or at least Abdul Hadi is with Najib,” he added, referring to PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and his Umno counterpary Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

The former New Straits Times group chief editor said PAS cannot go alone, and if it does not choose an alliance with federal opposition pact Pakatan Harapan and PPBM, it would inevitably need to turn to Umno for support.

“PAS will lose badly going it alone unless it is PAS’ goal for a suicide via harakiri,” he said, referring to “seppuku”, a Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment taken by samurai either to die with honour, as capital punishment, or as response to shame.

“In simple language, if PAS is not together with Pakatan Harapan-PPBM then it is with Umno/BN, no matter explicit or implicit, publicised or concealed.”

Kadir’s remark came after PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said last week that the political understanding between PPBM and PAS will no longer exist if the former chooses to forge an alliance with Pakatan Harapan.

But on Monday, PAS organised a joint rally with PKR and PPBM, despite a lack of formal cooperation between the Islamist party and the latter two parties.

PPBM has spearheaded efforts to get all the Opposition parties, including PAS and Pakatan Harapan parties, to form an alliance or electoral pact ahead of the 14th general elections.

But so far, PAS has yet to enter any formal arrangement with the other parties, while maintaining their own pact Gagasan Sejahtera with Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia.