The Malaysian Insight

MUAFAKAT Nasional (MN) is dead in Terengganu, said state Umno chief Ahmad Said.

MN is a pact between Umno and PAS based on cooperation on matters related to Islam and the Malay community.

It was to be formalised into a political coalition.

The former Terengganu menteri besar said the partnership never took off as PAS’ attitude towards the Barisan Nasional lynchpin party in the state did not change.

At best, he described the MN in the state as a fellowship, where the leaders meet to have meals but not discuss anything of substance.

“I shed tears when the agreement was signed. We hoped MN would pave the way for better things but it did not happen. That is why it never took off,” Ahmad told The Malaysian Insight.

He said the agreement did not wash with Umno grassroots members either as many were still smarting from the PAS leadership’s verbal assaults on the party over the years.

He pointed to the controversial fatwa by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang on Umno back in the 1980s as the genesis to the problems the two parties have in the state now.

Hadi, who was state commissioner in 1981, gave a religious sermon in Kuala Terengganu, which has since become to be known as Amanat Haji Hadi, or Hadi’s Mandate, which dubbed supporters of the Islamist party jihadists, while those who opposed them were infidels (kafir).

Simply put, Hadi called Umno and BN infidels, who must be rejected.

The impact of this continues to reverberate across the state some four decades later, Ahmad said.

He also said many families had fractured over their political allegiances.

“This kafir issue resulted in confusing fatwa. How are we to deal with PAS today as a result of this?

“This is not an old wound but one that never healed and continues to bleed,” he said.

Ahmad recounted how PAS actions had affected Umno in Terengganu when the Islamist party was in power from 1999 to 2004, with Hadi as menteri besar.

“In 1999, PAS won the election. It issued fatwa and triggered fights over sensitive issues in the state not seen elsewhere,” he said but could not be specific.

It was after Umno lost the 2018 general election that the two parties signed the MN charter.

Ahmad said the state Umno chapter welcomed the new partnership because it should have meant Malay-Muslim unity and the two sides in the state moving into a new chapter in their relationship.

He said they were the first Umno state chapter to ink the MN memorandum of understanding at state level.

However, Ahmad said the agreement never took off as PAS continued its aggressive ways and refused to compromise with Umno on state issues.

He said PAS had riled the Umno state leadership and its grassroots when it had announced the number of seats it would contest at the next general election without any discussion at the state MN meeting.

“The MN meeting did not discuss this. It was just a fellowship to meet and have meals.”

He said Umno was even more peeved when RM10 million of federal funding for the state to fight Covid-19 did not trickle down to its elected representatives.

“If it was provided by the state I would not make any noise, but this came from the federal government, of which Umno is a part. If Perlis and Pahang can give divide the money equally with PKR representatives in the state, why not here?” he asked.

Ahmad said he had warned the Umno leadership about the risk involved in working with PAS but it was not heeded.

“PAS is greedy. They won’t give up what is theirs, but they also want what is rightfully ours.

“From the start I warned the Umno Supreme Council and our party president about them.

“I told them I don’t believe PAS,” he said recounting how he had raised his reservation about the Islamist party at its highest decision-making body.

“They started with Umno (when they joined the Barisan Nasional in 1974), then PKR. They even worked with DAP. We in Terengganu know everything about them,” he said.

He said regardless of the decision made by the party’s supreme council, Terengganu Umno will contest all 32 state seats and eight parliamentary seats at the 15th general election.

In the last general election, PAS won 22 state seats and eight of the 10 parliamentary seats. – April 13, 2021.