Umno Supreme Working Council (MKT) member Datuk Puad Zarkashi has made it clear that he would strongly oppose any proposal to revive political unification between Umno and PAS if the matter is raised at the party’s upcoming leadership meeting. He argued that such cooperation, particularly when driven by the pursuit of power, would only create deeper divisions and long-term political damage.
Speaking in response to renewed calls for closer ties between the two Malay-based parties, Puad said past experience showed that a formal political union with PAS was unlikely to endure. He maintained that similar arrangements in the past had collapsed after brief periods, often leaving behind fractured alliances and weakened parties.
Puad contended that PAS had a long-standing pattern of entering political partnerships enthusiastically, only to abandon them when circumstances shifted. He described this tendency as a recurring political flaw that made sustained cooperation difficult. In his view, these abrupt changes reflected deeper internal issues that could not be easily resolved through new alliances.
He also raised concerns over PAS’s political conduct, arguihttps://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/bahasa/tempatan/2026/01/09/pas-suka-kahwin-cerai-puad-bantah-jika-umno-bincang-penyatuanng that the party had repeatedly exploited religious sentiment to advance its political objectives. This, he said, cast doubt on the sincerity of any unification effort and increased the risk that Umno would be treated merely as a vehicle to regain influence and power.
Pointing to history, Puad noted that nearly every major coalition involving PAS had eventually disintegrated. These included Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah in the 1990s, Barisan Alternatif after the 1999 general election, Pakatan Rakyat following internal disputes in the mid-2010s, and more recently Perikatan Nasional. He claimed that once such alliances fractured, they rarely recovered, often disappearing entirely from the political landscape.
Given this track record, Puad argued that full political unification between Umno and PAS was unrealistic. Instead, he suggested that any engagement between the two parties should be limited to carefully structured and comprehensive cooperation, rather than a merger or long-term alliance driven solely by electoral considerations. Such cooperation, he said, would need to extend beyond general election strategies and be grounded in genuine mutual understanding.
The renewed debate over Umno–PAS ties emerged following remarks by Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh at a special youth convention on 3 January 2026. During the gathering, Akmal urged Umno to leave the unity government and align itself with PAS in the opposition, citing concerns over repeated breaches of sensitive issues involving race, religion and the monarchy.
However, Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi later reaffirmed the party’s commitment to the unity government, stating that Umno would remain part of the ruling coalition until the current administration completes its term.
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