KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 — PAS information chief Kamaruzaman Mohamad played down the Perak government stalemate as “just a little storm in a teacup”.
He added that the no-confidence motion raised by Umno assemblymen against Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu that forced their Bersatu ally to resign as mentri besar would not have led to a bigger crisis that would jeopardise their three-way national pact.
“What happened in Perak seems to be just a little storm in a teacup,” he said during a dialogue with his Umno counterpart Shahril Hamdan aired tonight on Harakah, the Islamist party-owned news outlet.
He was confident that the PAS-Umno-Bersatu pact “won’t break up” so easily.
“If anything, what happened would bring Perikatan Nasional and Muafakat Nasional back to the drawing board, to look at the basis of PN and MN’s collaboration,” he added.
Kamaruzaman suggested that the main takeaway from the Perak episode for all three parties concerned was for them to keep in mind the reason for their tripartite alliance.
“We need to see how this situation can be handled well, otherwise it could have a huge implication.
“Then all problems can be solved,” he said.
He dismissed speculation that the Perak impasse signalled the disintegration of the PN and MN alliances as rumours started by those envious of their collaboration.
“The collaboration must be maintained to prevent the Perak government from falling into hands of Pakatan Harapan.
“PAS will continue to be committed in supporting the collaboration with PN until we announce to separate,” he said.
During the dialogue, Kamaruzaman was asked how PAS decided to “forgive” its long-time rival Umno that has lasted decades.
Kamaruzaman put it down to their mutual agreement to work for the “ummah”.
“It was based on this that we agreed to form a pact and based on this, we are building better politics as we realise that many issues, as agreed by Islamic non-governmental organisations, can only be solved using politics,” he elaborated.
He claimed the reconciliation has enabled the two rivals to govern Malaysia well now.
“It’s been so long that PAS and Umno has been fighting each other. I think we are tired of fighting.
“The rakyat too don’t want to see a crisis between PAS and Umno. They want to see harmony between the two parties, because respectively they have placed their confidence in the parties,” Kamaruzaman said.
He also said MN is bigger than its parties, adding that their ultimate agenda is unity of the “ummah”.
“PAS cannot survive on its own although it has 60 over years of experience.
“We can do it on our own but look at the outcome.
“So we need friends like Bersatu and Umno who has the same mindset and understanding in wanting to unite the ummah and also building political stability,” he said.
Shahril agreed with Kamaruzaman and said what happened in Perak was just a “test” of their friendship.
“As I have said before, in any kind of friendship, there is a test.
“The test is whether this friendship still has sincerity,” the Umno politician said.
He also believes that PN and MN will not separate.
PAS and Umno are partners in MN, a pact forged in the early days after Election 2018 when both lost to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, of which Bersatu was then a component.
However, Bersatu withdrew from PH in February this year, resulting in the collapse of the Mahathir administration.
Since then however, discontent continues to simmer among leaders of the three Malay Muslim parties in several state, sometimes resulting in some flare-ups.
One of them was the confidence vote against Ahmad Faizal, Bersatu deputy president, in the Perak assembly last Friday that ended yesterday with the appointment of Perak Umno chief Datuk Saarani Mohamad as the state’s 14th mentri besar.
