JOHOR BARU, March 6 — Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin has brushed aside criticisms that Umno’s latest political union with PAS was akin to inbreeding, maintaining that the cooperation is a new chapter in inter-party efforts to strengthen the Malays.

He said in a statement today that the union happened due to today’s political reality.

“As we enter the 21st century, the Malays and Muslims are losing their power and identity due to ‘modernisation’ in the political, economic and socio-cultural narrative.

“In fact, the Malays are being sidelined in their own land,” he said.

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The former Johor mentri besar also claimed that wages are not rising, businesses are losing out and those with families are concerned about the cost of their children’s education.

He also said such a situation saw an erosion of the Malay way of life, thinking and identity as the race no longer held political and economic power.

“Faced with such a situation, it was crucial for Umno and PAS to unite,” said Mohamed Khaled.

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Mohamed Khaled earlier criticised Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) supreme council member Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff for commenting on the Umno and PAS union as ‘committing incest’.

“If Umno is ‘committing incest’ by having political cooperation with PAS, then PPBM is akin to a ‘jealous widow trying to kill off her former husband’,” he said.

Mohamed Khaled, who lost his state and parliament seats to Pakatan Harapan (PH) in last year’s general election, also rebuked Rais for resorting to such an inappropriate analogy for the sake of political survival.

“Umno and PAS just started discussions on the public stage but PPBM has gotten ‘excited’ enough to start visualising bedroom scenes,” he said.

Yesterday, Umno acting president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan announced a formalised alliance between his party and PAS, likening it to a “marriage”.

Mohamad had said that the two parties will not be contesting under the same banner, but will work together in unconditional political cooperation especially for by-elections in the interest of uniting Muslims and Malays.