KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa has confirmed Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (Bersatu) entry into the Muafakat Nasional (MN) fold.
Taking to Twitter yesterday, the Ketereh MP said that Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had reciprocated to an invitation sent by the Umno and PAS presidents to join MN, by sending an acceptance letter.
“This is the syura spirit. The matter was discussed and agreed jointly by MN on August 6. The matter was reported to the political bureau and the supreme council on August 7. Letter was sent on August 13. On August 18, we received an acceptance letter from the president of PPBM,” he tweeted.
On Wednesay, PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyudin Hassan told reporters that Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had sent a joint letter inviting Bersatu to officially join the MN pact.
The de facto law minister said that he had personally sighted the letter and can confirm its authenticity.
Takiyuddin was asked to respond to Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan’s statement, in which he said that his party’s ordinary members opposed having Bersatu in MN.
The Umno deputy president told Free Malaysia Today (FMT) that his party’s grassroots have not forgotten Bersatu’s attacks against his party, when the two were then rivals, prior to the historic 14th general election.
In the interview with FMT, Mohamad said that the idea to include Bersatu in MN should have been put before the Umno supreme council rather than leaving the matter to the MN steering committee, as party president Ahmad Zahid did.
Mohamad asserted that the feedback he received from grassroots members showed a general rejection of Bersatu, which is a splinter party of Umno.
Former Umno president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad formed Bersatu in 2016 after he left Umno following a failed campaign to have the Malay nationalist party remove Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the prime minister.
Zahid had previously said that the views of Umno’s grassroots would be considered before MN finalises its decision on Bersatu’s entry but did not elaborate.
