KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — Umno acting president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan has insisted today that the formal alliance between his Malay nationalist party and Islamist part PAS is not intended to marginalise other religions and ethnic groups.
The politician known as Tok Mat said the Umno-PAS cooperation is not a binding merger, and carries the agenda of looking out for the public’s best interests.
“The relationship between the two is a strategy for the next general election and to bring forth an agenda that is best for the people.
“It was not our intention to marginalise anyone, whether the non-Muslims or the non-Malays,” he told a press conference after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting here.
“The agenda to unite the ‘ummah’ is to ensure both parties can operate smoothly on the same platform… but this is not a merger, we are not going to merge and there is nothing binding,” he added, using the Arabic term that refers to the Muslim community.
Mohamad said the two parties will not impose its values on one another and that it was merely a strategy to strengthen the party.
“Every party has to strengthen its own party and our strategy is to cooperate with PAS.
“MIC had also voiced out publicly that they have no qualms over the alliance,” he said.
Mohamad added that he does not believe MCA and MIC intend to leave Barisan Nasional, despite the indication that the two component parties would move on to explore a new alliance.
“I don’t think they want to leave BN. They were very concerned because they love BN,” he said.
