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SHAH ALAM – Claims that Pas severed ties with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) because the party rejected efforts towards penyatuan ummah (Muslim unity) do not reflect the full picture of political negotiations within Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Datuk Dr Marzuki Mohamad, who served as Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s former private secretary-general, argued that the narrative put forward by Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang only highlighted part of a much longer political process.
“Pas president Abdul Hadi said one of the reasons Pas ended its relationship with Bersatu was because Bersatu rejected the 'penyatuan ummah' (ummah unity). The justification given was that Bersatu opposed the admission of several Malay-Muslim parties into PN.
“This is only part of the story. If the intention is to be sincere, then the entire story should be told. The first person who brought Malay-Muslim parties such as Parti Berjasa Malaysia (Berjasa), Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) and Parti Perikatan India Muslim Nasional (Iman) into the PN network was Muhyiddin,” he said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Marzuki said the parties were later brought together under a strategic opposition coalition aligned with PN known as Ikatan Prihatin Rakyat (IPR).
He added that Pas initially showed little enthusiasm towards the coalition, having skipped IPR’s first meeting, while its participation in subsequent meetings was also inconsistent.
“IPR was established when Muhyiddin was PN chairman. In its early stages, Pas adopted a rather lukewarm stance towards IPR. No Pas representative attended the first IPR meeting. Although Pas representatives attended several meetings after that, the party’s commitment to IPR appeared limited.
“At the time, Bersatu did not accuse Pas of rejecting ummah unity. Subsequently, the Malay-Muslim parties within IPR applied to join PN and their applications were considered several times during PN Supreme Council meetings.
“Each time the matter was discussed, the collective decision of the PN Supreme Council was to establish an electoral pact with these parties first, rather than admit them as full PN members. This decision was made collectively by all council members, including Pas representatives,” he said.
Marzuki said the proposed electoral pact itself represented a form of political cooperation and unity aimed at strengthening efforts to win elections.
He stressed that, at the time, neither Bersatu nor Pas had accused the other of opposing the move for unity.
“However, the Pas president is now accusing Bersatu of rejecting penyatuan ummah simply because, during the latest PN Supreme Council meeting, Bersatu defended a decision that had already been agreed upon previously, namely that PN would pursue an electoral pact with these parties without accepting them as member parties.
“If this was not considered a rejection of penyatuan ummah before, why is it being portrayed that way now? Is that fair?” he said.
Earlier, Abdul Hadi reportedly claimed that Bersatu had attempted to weaken Pas’ role in driving political change by blocking the participation of more parties within PN.
He specifically referred to Malay-Muslim parties such as Berjasa, Pejuang, Iman and Putra, as well as the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), which he described as a non-Muslim party that was not extremist.
