KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — In a backhanded compliment, Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir called Umno “generous” for proposing a joint government with former nemesis-turned-ally PAS in the four states they control.
The Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) deputy president was commenting on the two federal Opposition Malay parties that have combined their resources after the landmark GE14 to take on the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.
“I have congratulated Umno for giving way for PAS to take over Kedah. This is a very generous move from Umno because with that coalition, the stronger party in Kedah will be PAS and not Umno,” Mukhriz told reporters in Parliament, which sits today.
Acting Umno president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan recently said his party has submitted a proposal for a joint state government with PAS in Perlis and Pahang, which is run by Barisan Nasional (BN), and PAS-led Kelantan and Terengganu.
The two parties are also looking at cooperating to reclaim Kedah and Perak, where PH has the edge over just a small number of seats.
PH now controls 19 out of 36 seats in Kedah after Guar Chempedak assemblyman Datuk Dr Ku Abd Rahman Ku Ismail defected Umno, leaving the Malay nationalist party with two seats while PAS has 15 seats.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan also told reporters that the unity government is to create a more efficient Opposition in Parliament while at the state level, there is barely any Opposition in two states.
“What will immediately happen is that there will be no Opposition in these four states. In Kelantan there are no PH [seats], in Terengganu there are no PH [seats] so Umno will become the state government’s partner.
“The same with Pahang and Perlis. We will be friends to the ruling government at state level,” he said.
Takiyuddin also clarified that there is no Umno-PAS joint state government yet as both parties have not discussed the proposal.
If united, the Terengganu state assembly will not have any Opposition lawmaker while Kelantan will only see Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia member Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, representing Air Lanas as the sole PH MP.
*Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story contained an error on the number of seats controlled by PH in Kedah, which has since been corrected. Malay Mail apologises for the error.
