The Malaysian Insight

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has invoked the memory of the late Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat in a bid to shore up grassroots support for the cooperation the Islamist party fomalised with erstwhile bitter rivals Umno.

Hadi said if Nik Aziz was alive, he would be happy with the new political pact between Umno and PAS.

The late PAS spiritual leader was a revered figure in the party and was well known for his dislike of Umno. Prior to his death in 2015, Nik Aziz had often stated his distrust of Umno and ruled out any cooperation between the country’s largest Malay parties. 

Nik Aziz often cited the maneuverings against PAS when it was part of Barisan Nasional in the 1970s as reason to distrust Umno.

Today, Hadi said Nik Aziz would have given his blessings to PAS and Umno’s new charter, called muafakat nasional (national concord), which both signed today.

This is because the new charter is a form of political cooperation or “ta’awun” between Umno and PAS, and not a formal coalition, Hadi said.

“Ta’awun is a term that was accepted by Nik Aziz while he was still alive. The cooperation (with Umno) in the 1970s was a tahaluf (coalition),” Hadi told reporters.

“We have to start a new approach, which is cooperation. That had been discussed by the syura council, while Nik Aziz was still alive,” Hadi said referring to the council of jurists that decides PAS’ political direction.

The new charter loosely sets out the terms of cooperation between the two largest Malay political parties in their campaign to win the 15th general election, which is due in 2023.

The charter is a pact between Umno and PAS, as opposed to a formal arrangement like the one Umno has with MCA and MIC under the Barisan Nasional coalition.

PAS had been a part of the BN from 1972 to 1977 when it left after claiming that Umno had sabotaged and taken over the Kelantan state government which it controlled.  

Ever since the break-up, PAS, under Nik Aziz’s influence, had firmly rebuffed any thought of political cooperation with Umno.

Nik Aziz, who was a former Kelantan Menteri Besar, passed away in February 2015.

Later that year, PAS got into a feud with its partner in the opposition, DAP, over the implementation of hudud in Kelantan. This led to the dissolution of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, 

A faction of PAS leaders and lawmakers went on to split from the party to form Amanah, which is a component party of the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition.

One of the reasons for the split was the disagreement over cooperating with Umno.

Two of Nik Aziz’s children are currently in politics although in different parties. Nik Mohamad Abduh is a PAS central committee member and Bachok MP.

Another son, Nik Omar, is a member of Amanah, PAS’ new political rival. – September 14, 2019.